A couple of days later, Captain Carter sat in her lab, groaning. She still could not believe she'd tried to seduce her CO. How embarrassing! What if he'd been effected then, too, and hadn't stopped her? She could be pregnant! Then how would she tell her father? He'd skin her alive!

But he HAD stopped her. She wasn't pregnant. She didn't have to tell her father squat.

But how embarrassing. She hadn't lost his respect before, over Hansen, but he sure as hell did now. How could he not? She was all over him like a slut in heat.

Well, he'd sure as hell backed off after that. At 0220, after her nightmares, he didn't call to demand a reason why she hadn't called. When she showed up for briefings with rings under her eyes the color of street cement, he didn't give her a friendly, concerned look, and there wasn't coffee at her place either. Maybe she'd scared him away, made him feel like he'd crossed a line or two. Like he was getting too friendly.

Why couldn't they be friends? Carter didn't see a reason why not. Then she sighed. Of course she did. There was one perfectly good explanation as to why friendship couldn't be a factor.

She, Captain Carter, found herself noting on several occasions his attractiveness. She'd always told herself afterwards that she could appreciate the male body of any guy, and that it was neither her fault nor his that his happened to be even more appreciative than the others.

But then she, Captain Carter, had also chosen him to seduce in the locker room. There were a few others present, admittedly leaving, but she had chosen him. She… she didn't quite know him, but she had tried too, and that made it almost as bad…

If they were friends, mutually appreciative of each other's minds, that coworker-friendship would turn into close friendship.

And if she was close friends with Jack O'Neill, she knew she could fall in love with him.

My heart really is that weak, she thought, remembering her first crush, her first serious boyfriend, and then, Hansen.

While others claimed to have no memory whatsoever of the virus, she remembered it vividly. She remembered…her attraction for him…it was…a little more than…physical. A little. Just a smidgen. Almost nothing.

Almost.

Captain Carter groaned and put her head down on the worktable, covering it with her hands. This was so confusing, so frustrating, she wanted to strangle the first person who walked in her lab.

"Hey, Sam."

Which just happened to be Daniel.

"Hey Daniel," she said, sitting up reluctantly.

"You okay?" Daniel asked, leaning against the doorway.

"I'm fine," she answered.

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Absolutely positive?"

"Daniel."

He studied her for a moment. "He likes you too, you know."

Carter looked at him incredulously. "Say what?" she asked flatly.

"Nothing, nothing!" Daniel said, holding up his hands in a sign of surrender. "I'm just saying…think about it."

And he left.

She sighed and put her head back down on the table. This was going to be a long, long day.

sgcsgcsgcsgcsgcsgc

Later that morning, Captain Carter received a visit.

"Hey Carter," Colonel O'Neill said quietly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Hi, sir," she said, avoiding his gaze, determinedly fixing her attention on her "doohickey".

"You busy?"

Carter hesitated. What did that mean? That he wanted to talk, or that he simply wanted to know if she was busy, no strings attached? "Umm…not really, sir." It was true, but oh how she wished she would've just lied. Peace and quiet was good. She'd had enough excitement the other day to last a lifetime.

"Oh. That's…good."

"That's good"? What does that mean?

"I was kinda hoping we could…talk," Colonel O'Neill finished, with a grimace on his face like she was going to lunge at him like a wild woman.

"Talk, sir? What about?" she asked nonchalantly.

"About…how the other day…with that virus…"

"How I threw myself at you like a bitch in heat?" she asked bitterly, hands clenching around the handle of her tool and the device.

"Hey! You were infected, and so was I. Hell, the entire base was infected! Well, except for Spacemonkey and Fraiser. This…thing," he pointed to her and himself, "happened to a lot of people…even…"

"Even who?" she asked curiously, forgetting her spite and self-hatred for the moment.

"Even between those of the same sex." He smirked and waggled his eyebrows. Carter couldn't help it; she giggled and snorted.

"Ah! No giggling, remember?"

Carter stopped her giggling with an ending snort. "Really?"

Colonel O'Neill walked in and picked up a somewhat expensive tool and twirled it between his fingers. "No, not really," he said, watching her with satisfaction as her face paled several shades.

"Sir, please! That's a very expensive –!"

He put it down rather gracelessly. Carter sighed. "Sir…" she said, a tint of pleading in her voice.

Colonel O'Neill studied her for a moment. "You aren't alone in this, Carter," he said softly.

"In what part?" she asked with a sniffle, blinking rapidly to block the tears.

"Either part. The virus, Hansen…" He reached for her forearm, tentatively, and squeezed it, thumb rubbing her smooth skin. A shiver went down her spine. He cleared his throat and his hand dropped back to his pocket. "Which reminds me, he's away on a mission but he's got a court marshal waiting for him when he gets back."

Carter smiled weakly. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Think nothing of it," Colonel O'Neill said. "Now…" he turned and started for the door. "Cake! Hurry up and get your 'tush down there with me."

"That a way of saying 'get your ass out of that lab and don't make me make that an order'?" she asked, standing.

"Ya sure youbetcha," he said as he exited.

She paused, a bigger smile gracing her lips. Maybe it wasn't such a bad day after all.

"Carter, I'm waaaaiting!" Colonel O'Neill called in a singsong voice.

Yep – much better day than she'd thought.