One Too Many Planets Part 5
Their return was met with unqualified jubilation as both Daniel and Teal'c had been forced to accept their loss, having seen the two of them tumble down into the icy torrents of the surging river. They too had been wounded and only just managed to make it through the Stargate; in fact, Daniel was still hospitalized. Unwilling to allow them out of his sight so soon, even General Hammond thought fit to escort his two officers to the infirmary for immediate and thorough medical checks. Only when Dr. Fraiser saw fit to release them would they return for debriefing.
Sitting on a gurney, Jack grinned wryly at Sam as his temperature, blood pressure and other vitals were taken. He turned to the CMO.
"If you're ever short handed Doc, there's someone I could strongly recommend."
"You've never been happy to have me on your team, have you, Sir?" Sam snapped coldly, looking him directly in the eye.
"Wha-at?"
Janet's hands paused in their work as she shot Sam a worried look. The tension between these two officers was all too obvious and startling because of it.
Dismayed at the misunderstanding, Jack attempted to explain himself, but Sam was giving him no such opportunity as she turned on her heel and marched towards the exit.
"Carter." When she refused to stop, Jack's voice hardened as he repeated her name. This time there could be no mistaking his meaning. 'Order - Stop. Order - Turn around and face your commanding officer!'
Just for a fraction of a second she appeared to hesitate and the cold, hard lump that had jumped to Jack's throat almost disintegrated. But the moment passed and she stomped off, leaving her CO swearing under his breath as he jumped off the gurney.
"What was all that about?" Janet's expression showed clearly how startled she was.
"The hell that I know, but I'm gong to find out!" Jack growled coldly.
"Hold it right there, Colonel." Janet's tone matched his.
'What if I just keep on going – just like Carter,' he thought defiantly.
"Colonel?"
He twisted round to face the CMO, his face a black scowl.
"I'm glad you can remember my rank, Major!" he growled, stressing her lower status with heavy irony.
"How could I forget it, Sir?" she snapped back, her eyebrows raised, her own derision just as cutting.
'Damn!' This was one time Jack really wanted to get his own way but the manner in which the diminutive doctor was glowering; he knew he was walking a tightrope over crocodile-infested waters.
He stayed where he was, the challenge still there. But if Janet was correct in her steely observation, she thought, maybe it was just a little dimmer. Well, she'd teach him another lesson if that was how he wanted it, she thought grimly.
Oh, oh – Jack saw the light of battle in her bright eyes and suddenly remembered what she had done when last he'd dared to overstep the mark. He knew he wasn't going to like this one little bit.
"I've got a new junior doctor arriving---."
Crap! "Oh, for crying out loud!"
He brushed an irritable hand through his unruly grey hair, not quite managing to disguise the shudder that crossed his darkened features.
"If I let her loose on you, Colonel, you won't be able to sit for a week, so I suggest you get your butt back on this gurney right now!"
She didn't fail to see the flicker of dread so quickly concealed in those dark, angry eyes and just as speedily she hid the smile behind her severe medical façade.
She turned her back to consult some charts allowing him the dignity to retrace his steps without her eyes on him. When she turned around he had resumed his place, a look of unconcealed irritation marring his stern features.
Janet didn't even hesitate. She knew that look, had lived with it over the past three years and learned fairly soon how to handle it. She was one of very few people who knew how to manage Jack O'Neill when he was in one of those moods.
'Heaven help her,' she thought wryly. 'I wouldn't want to be in Sam's shoes for all the tea in China…'And she wondered what on earth her friend could have done to warrant this unheard of state of affairs?'
The debriefing had already commenced when Sam slipped into the conference room, careful to take a seat nearest to the door and furthest from her CO. Jack had been in the middle of outlining what had happened when the two of them had been separated from Daniel and Teal'c but he paused dramatically, his eyes conveying a deadly though silent censure. Sam's eyes dropped to the desk, her face reddening as she mumbled an apology. She dare not look up as the silence continued, feeling black accusatory eyes drilling into her. It was with intense relief when she heard General Hammond urge the Colonel to continue.
Not once through the entire debrief did she look at him, keeping her eyes firmly on the pad in front of her, only raising her eyes to the General when he interrupted to ask for her confirmation of some matter.
When Jack reached the point where they went to the healing waters, she felt her insides shrink with the shame of her humiliation and though her CO made no mention of what took place between them, still she replayed the entire episode in her head and burned with mortification. She longed for this debrief to end, longed to find a quiet, dark place where she could escape to soothe her battered soul.
She jumped when the General rose to his feet and she cast her eye towards the door and escape. Moistening dry lips, she rose to her feet, her eyes suddenly widening in horror as she surveyed her notepad and realized what her deceitful hand had been doodling whilst her mind had been far away. With one frantic motion she had ripped the page from the pad stuffing the offending paper into her trousers' pocket, painfully aware she had drawn questioning eyes because of her frantic movements. She risked a lightning glance at Jack and regretted it instantly when she saw the look he was throwing her way.
She quelled the impulse to run and hide and waited for the General to excuse them. Protocol had to be adhered to but her instinct for survival made her long to take flight.
"Okay people, you're dismissed, and may I take this opportunity to state how delighted I am, and I know I speak for the rest of the SGC, to have you, Colonel, and you, Captain, back with us."
Sam smiled woodenly and slowly, with control, then she walked to the door, her hand reaching for the handle.
"Captain!"
She closed her eyes momentarily – she'd ignored him once already in the infirmary and wondered bleakly if she dared do it again. She noticed aghast that her hand was trembling and took a deep breath to still her racing heart.
'Turn around, Turn around and face him,' she ordered herself. 'Don't let him see what's in your heart!'
Slowly, as if an age was passing with the feel of a smouldering gaze watching her, Sam twisted her head, though her body refused her command or simply was incapable of responding.
It was almost with relief that the anger she felt directed at her from those black, burning eyes surely meant he was oblivious to what she was feeling? She appeared to slump from the relief but what her CO saw was something entirely different. The lack of respect he felt emanating from his 2IC hurt him more than he would care to admit and he felt himself flinch at past memories when he had had no control and was all too dependent on Sam. Grinding his teeth, he bore down on her.
"Colonel, a word with you please."
Intense relief flowed through Sam's veins at the general's words and she dared to look into Jack's eyes. That comfort was instantly quashed when she read all too clearly a silent, savage message. 'There'll be a next time, Carter, you can count on it.'
He span on his heel, a precise military turn that Jack was rarely known for executing. It told Sam that she was about to receive the full force of her Colonel's anger and she was not going to like it one little bit.
So yes, she had her reprieve for the moment and the panic that had threatened to engulf her slowly receded to a part of her body where she could manage it, at least for the time being.
"Captain Carter, are you not well?"
She jerked, so caught up in her silent voices she had not seen Teal'c approach.
His warm, brown eyes looked concerned and his voice conveyed such gentleness she felt tears begin to well in her eyes and blinked them back rapidly.
"I..I'm fine, Teal'c…." She smiled wanly aware of other brown eyes raking over her. "Just a little tired."
The large Jaffa warrior smiled, nodding. "Would it not be adviseable for you to return to your home to rest"
Sam looked at him gratefully. "Yes, yes, I'll do that. I guess I've missed out on a lot of sleep."
"I will inform Colonel O'Neill of your intentions, Captain Carter."
For a second she wondered where the banging was coming from.
'Damn it!' As she staggered from her bedroom she realized she must have left the T.V. on. Sam groaned and padded silently to the den squinting, perplexed when she realized there were no flickering lights to indicate the set was on.
The banging started again, louder and she grimaced when she realized the noise was coming from her front door. She glanced at her watch – just past eleven p.m. She knew of only one person who would dare to thump on her door in such a manner at this hour.
She leaned wearily against the wall, relieved she had not put on any lights to give away the fact that she was in.
"I know you're in there, Carter. Just open the damned door!"
'And how the hell does he know that?' she asked herself peevishly. 'Can't I have a life? Can't I be out enjoying myself – with someone of the opposite sex? Sex – ugh!' She just didn't need to think about that right now, especially with a certain volatile Colonel on the other side of her door.
The thumping continued.
God – he'd have the neighbours out in force if this continued. Maybe it would teach him a good lesson if the police were called!
There again… She frowned realizing that might just not be in her best interests. She could just visualize the scene.
'Why didn't you open your door, ma'am?'
'Because, officer, I was afraid I might have jumped on him!'
She could even hear herself saying this demurely, wearing her Winnie the Pooh nightshirt. Just the little number to turn a guy on!
She moaned aloud then clapped her hand over her mouth.
"Carter? Carter, is that you?" Jack's tone had gone up a notch, no make that ten, in irritation.
She sighed, and opened her hand which held the screwed up piece of paper she had been doodling on earlier. Opening it up, she read the words she had repeated over and over and over and over, shaking her head in disbelief. How long was the effect of the healing waters going to last? Distastefully she screwed the paper back up and flung it across the floor, but whilst she could eliminate the concrete evidence her mind was not that easy to deal with, and like an annoying mantra, the words 'Mrs. Sam O'Neill, Mrs. Jack O'Neill, Captain Sam O'Neill' reverberated round her head in a whirlpool of desire.
The next blow to her door came and she felt it rattling on its hinges. She grimaced.
She was getting rather good at this – how to piss off a really pissed off CO in three easy lessons.
When was he going to get the message, I..AM.NOT.GOING.TO.OPEN.THE.DAMNED.DOOR?
Hah, he must have got her telepathic message as she heard a car door slam and an engine roar angrily to life. An accompanying screech of tyres told her all too well what frame of mind Colonel Jack O'Neill was in. She sank to the floor and dropped her head into her hands. It was going from bad to worse and she just didn't know how this was all going to work out.
After all the rigours of their stay on PX4450, Sam felt a deep need for peace, a respite from all the stress and trauma of off-world travel and, yes, she had to admit wryly, a break from a certain dark-eyed, cantankerous Colonel who had the unerring capacity to send her cart wheeling into chaotic flight at the drop of his cap! She slouched around her home in baggy top and shorts working on her garden, watching junk TV and ignoring the rest of the world.
The phone rang. She wasn't answering that either. She'd even switched off her answering machine and cell phone – the world, she had decided, was going to have to get along without her for a little while. So when that Friday evening the doorbell rang at just after seven, Sam frowned in consternation.
'Who the hell is that?'
"Sam. Sam, come on!"
'Janet?' Her eyes widening in surprise, she hurried to the door and unlocked it to reveal her slightly exasperated friend dressed to the nines in a black silk dress and high heels. She also received a long, hard look until, suddenly, her eyes shot up in horror and the flat of her open palm slapped against her forehead.
"Good grief, Kelly's leaving do. I forgot!"
"You don't say." Janet was not impressed.
"Why didn't you remind me?" Sam didn't wait for an answer as she raced to her bedroom discarding shorts and top on the way.
"I've been phoning all afternoon but you weren't in."
Sam hesitated just about to enter the shower, her face going a deep pink as her guilt revealed itself in no uncertain terms.
Janet's eyebrows shot up. "You weren't in, right, Sam?"
"I…er…I kind of wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone." And she ducked into the cubicle.
"And who might that 'anyone' be? Or maybe I can guess – tall, slim, scar over left eyebrow, grey hair, hands that are never still – need I continue?"
The water from the shower drowned out whatever Sam was saying but Janet guessed there were a few expletives thrown in for good measure.
The party was in full swing by the time they eventually arrived. Captain Kelly Smythe was a popular officer and her leaving gig was well attended.
As the two female officers entered the nightclub, privately hired for the occasion, Sam froze just inside the entrance, her brilliant blue eyes widening in a blaze of panic as Janet just managed to avoid walking into her.
"What if he's here?" She began to twist an earring as her nerves got the better of her.
Slightly alarmed that Sam was so hyped up about her CO, Janet attempted to ease her mind.
"When have you ever known him to attend one of these 'dos'? He's a hockey fiend and I'm pretty sure there's a match on this evening. You've nothing to worry about."
Relief snaked through Sam's veins and she allowed herself a warm smile which instantly lit up her features ensuring that half a dozen men in her vicinity hoped they'd strike lucky this particular evening.
With a couple of glasses of wine already in her system and beginning her third Chablis, Sam was sitting in the middle of a group of men and women enjoying the light banter. She'd actually danced a couple of times, taking pity on Lt. Simmons, probably making his day, possibly his month, by accepting his invitation to dance. As she listened to Kelly tell yet another hilarious story about her experiences with the SGC, Sam allowed her eyes to wander round the large crowded room
Her eyes crinkled at the sight of Daniel hemmed in a corner by Lt. Jane Alers. Everyone in Cheyenne Mountain knew she had a thing about Daniel and it appeared she was making the most of her opportunities, few as they were, to grab his sole and undivided attention. Sam studied SG1's archaeologist and decided he didn't look in any way in need of rescuing, so she moved her gaze on.
Cool, dark eyes appraising her icily froze her for an age until she tore her gaze away and turning was able – just – to laugh hysterically at the punch line Kelly had reached so fortuitously. Quaffing her half full glass in one gulp, she turned wildly to Janet, whispering, "I've got to go!"
"The Ladies are over there," Janet said, misunderstanding and pointing helpfully in the direction of the powder room through the middle of the dance floor.
Shaking her head, eyes wide with apprehension, Sam mumbled, "I'm leaving."
"Wh-at?" Janet was shocked.
"I've just remembered – I've forgotten to………to," her mind had gone blank and then inspiration appeared, "to feed the cat!" She almost felt proud of herself.
Janet looked askance while Kelly, who had caught the last part of the conversation, shook her head and yelled above the noise for someone to dance with her and Sam. Immediately, four love struck airmen threw themselves at the couple eager to please.
Sam, face tight with tension, shook her head but Janet, who had now seen the reason for Sam's jitters, placed a restraining hand on her shoulder with the whispered advice, "Better to face him here in front of friends than back at the base," which halted her headlong flight.
Looking up, Sam realized Lt. Simmons, his grey-green eyes staring into her eyes with puppy dog devotion expecting a refusal but still willing to risk a beating just in case, was standing before her. She gave him a good, long look then made up her mind and gave him a tentative nod, somewhat taken aback by his delirious smile.
Well, she thought, if this was all it took to bring joy into the world…
She followed him through the crowd onto the dance floor, relieved that she could lose herself and her partner among all the other dancers.
Kelly caught her eye and did a dramatic twirl, dropping to do the splits then leaping up again in time with the Latino beat. Onlookers roared their approval and even Sam found herself caught up in the madness as she allowed herself to be whirled expertly at the hands of her partner. She found herself pleasantly surprised by Lt. Simmon's dancing abilities and smiled her approval, enjoying having someone lead her so well to the rhythm of the music.
When the music ended and she attempted to leave the floor, the Lieutenant, sensing her delight with not only the music but with him, coaxed her to stay so that she took to the floor again, her satin navy trousers and peacock blue mandarin top creating a blur of colour as she moved to the frenetic beat.
She was breathing deeply when she rejoined her group, a thin sheen of perspiration covering her brow, her blue eyes sparkling with pleasure. She turned to Janet wanting to know why she wasn't up there making a spectacle of herself when, abruptly, she impacted with dark brown eyes which were observing her with a look she couldn't deduce.
She reached for her glass, aware in the back of her mind that it had been refilled, unaware that she had downed it in one go.
"Easy, easy – there's still the rest of the evening girl," Janet advocated, following Sam's gaze to where Jack was in happy dialogue with Kelly across the table. Already high as a kite, the guest of honour burst into amused laughter, a hand flying to her mouth at something O'Neill had said. Sam watched as her friend hit her CO playfully on the shoulder and then turned to Sam, her eyes rolling dramatically, "Sam, you never told me what a dangerous man your CO is!"
It was fortunate Kelly didn't wait for some sort of response as Sam's vocal chords simply refused to operate. And as she attempted to distance herself from the couple sitting opposite, she felt Janet's comforting hand on her knee willing her to raise her spirits.
Cheering from across the table had them both suddenly looking up to see Kelly being well and truly kissed by none other than Colonel Jack O'Neill.
Swallowing painfully, yet unable to turn away from the distressing sight, Sam's dark eyes locked on the entwined couple as if by magnetic force and as the conjoined couple continued their amorous display to the obvious enjoyment of the spectators surrounding them, Sam could feel a leaden knot twisting inside her. Her despair increased tenfold when she realized Kelly had grabbed her CO's hand and was dragging him, albeit reluctantly, onto the dance floor.
Vaguely, she was aware the music was titled 'Kiss' – she grimaced – well, someone had a great sense of humour. Or not!
"I need a drink."
"Of water," Janet interjected, removing the wine glass from her friend's trembling hand. "Come on, let's walk to the bar."
"Yea, yea okay." Sam's eyes had turned dull as she rose, walking determinedly past the dancers, attempting to erase the picture of one particular couple dancing way too close for comfort.
"I didn't know he liked to dance."
Sam blinked as Janet's words penetrated her own troubled thoughts.
"I didn't know he could dance."
"Seems to have made quite a hit with Kelly."
Sam frowned. "Yea, well she knows she won't have to face him again."
"You know," Janet's voice had risen in surprise, "I never realized she looked so much like you."
"Wha-at?" That did get Sam's attention.
"Yea – similar hair cut, colour, height, weight. In uniform it never struck me."
Sam snorted sarcastically. "Well I wonder why? Could it be that Kelly's always in Class As and I'm in grubby BDUs?"
Janet grinned, relieved to see her friend joking, even if it was against herself. She pressed a tall glass of water into Sam's hand with a stern command to drink.
"Anyone would think I'm drunk," she complained lightly.
"You're half way there, girl."
"No I'm not!" she shot back, scowling as the water went down her throat.
'He kissed her!' she thought desperately, 'He kissed her willingly. No pulling away making dumb excuses about regulations.' She shook her head, trying to rid her mind of the picture replaying in her brain.
"You okay?" Janet was staring at her, a concerned frown playing on her features.
No! "Yes, yes, I'm fine." She raised her glass and smiled stiffly. "This stuff is hitting the spot."
Hitting – yes, she wanted to hit him – hard. Very hard. Right where it hurt the most. How could he do this to her? He was mocking her – it was a slap in the face.
She could feel tears surfacing and rubbed the bridge of her nose hard to try and stifle them.
"Headache?" Janet never forgot her job.
"Mmmm." Sam nodded, screwing her eyes shut.
She was dimly aware of the live group coming back on stage and then the music and words swooped along her auditory senses leaving her trembling and in pain.
'Nooooo. It can't be.' Her mind in total disarray, all she longed to do was take flight. She didn't care who saw her or what anyone thought. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered.
She put her glass down on the bar turning on her heel at the same time, dimly aware of someone tall standing, blocking her way.
"I believe, Captain Carter, this dance was promised to me."
Baffled, Sam's brain cleared enough for her to realise Teal'c was looking down on her benevolently, then taking her hand, he gently led her onto the dance floor, and just as carefully, he took her into his arms and held her while the pain of the music washed over her.
What ravages of spirit
Conjured this tempestuous rage
Created you a monster
Broken by the rules of love
And fate has led you through it
You do what you have to do
And fate has led you through it
You do what you have to do…
And I have the sense to recognise that
I don't know how to let you go.
Every moment marked
With apparitions of your soul
I'm ever swiftly moving
Trying to escape this desire
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
The yearning to be near you
I do what I have to do
She felt the lump in her throat tighten as she remembered holding Jack back in the cave. And for a moment, just a brief wonderful moment, hadn't he responded?
As if sensing her distress, Teal'c led her in the dance, holding her so no one could view her anguish. He felt her stiffen as the tears came, ready to run.
"Do not distress yourself, Captain Carter – I will remain thus for as long as you require me."
And slowly she relaxed and let the words of the song enter her very being.
But I have the sense to recognise
That I don't know how to let you go
I don't know how to let you go.
Carefully, concealing most of her face in Teal'c's solid shoulder, she moved to allow herself the torment of seeing Jack with his partner. They were dancing body to body – impossible to get any closer – she grimaced and at that moment felt powerful penetrating brown eyes on her. She retreated behind Teal'c's shoulder trying to make herself smaller.
A glowing ember burning hot
Burning slow
Deep within I'm shaken by the violence
Of existing for only you
I know I can't be with you
I do what I have to do
I know I can't be with you
I do what I have to do
And I have the sense to recognise but
I don't know how to let you go
I don't know how to let you go
I don't know how to let you go.
The choice of song had been chosen by Kelly's friends who joined in the chorus lustily and enthusiastically, shouting at the tops of their inebriated voices 'I don't know how to let you go.'
But for Sam, the choice of song had a far deeper meaning. She ached but in her hurt she felt Teal'c engulfing her with comfort, offering her his protection as a buffer against whatever troubled her; asking no questions, simply being there for her.
She sniffed, looking up into his soft brown eyes and she smiled letting him know she was okay.
"Thank you, Teal'c….I……I needed that."
The music had stopped yet they continued to dance, heedless of the silence.
"You are most welcome, Captain Carter. I am not accustomed to this form of movement but it is, nonetheless, pleasant in its own way."
Suddenly realizing that couples were staring at them slightly amused, Sam's eyes grew large and she took Teal'c's hand, leading him back to Janet at the bar.
As Teal'c handed her back into the safekeeping of her friend, he surveyed her carefully noting the lack of sparkle and the almost hidden pain in her eyes.
"I must thank you again. If you should ever require me for this activity in the future, I will be at your disposal."
Sam blinked, looking up at him, a tentative smile on her lips. "Thank you, Teal'c. It's good to know I can count on you."
He inclined his head gently and returned to wherever he'd been before, leaving Sam grateful for his strength and support as well as his calming influence.
"I need some fresh air – I'll be back." And before Janet could discuss this more, she was gone.
She'd intended going on the balcony, but she should have known there'd be a mass of people already there and Sam was in need of solitude, the healing kind which came from having no one else around whilst she wrestled with her own inner demons.
She wandered into the lantern lit gardens, shivering in the night air, smelling the dampness of the garden, and found a secluded bench overlooking the small, manmade lake. She was vaguely aware of the noise still emanating from the party – laughter and music, people yelling. Fortunately, it was a bitter night and few people considered staying out for long.
Well, she thought wryly, this was as good a send off as Kelly could ever have hoped for, down to having her very own Colonel pull out all the stops. She saw again the embrace, the hold, the kiss. Good grief, they had practically undergone a tonsillectomy!
Unable to stay sitting, she began to pace up and down on the lawns, kicking off her shoes and enjoying the feel of the soft, velvety grass beneath her toes.
The deep pain within her had lessened to a dull ache which she was acutely aware could flare into unbearable torment if she didn't get a hold on her emotions.
'Damn that healing water! Damn PX4450, and damn herself for a smartass captain getting herself involved with an equally hard ass Colonel!'
"Talking to yourself, Carter?"
She froze, furious that she'd allowed herself to be trapped this way. Her eyes twisted from side to side aware that a high trellis fence separated the garden from the car park while on the opposite side the gardens merged into the dense undergrowth of a wood.
And where the hell were her shoes?
She lowered her eyes trying to see them from the meager light cast by a nearby lantern.
"Looking for something?"
She sensed dry amusement in his voice and whirled around incensed at seeing her footwear held in one of his hands. She reached out to grab them.
"Ah ah." He held them just out of her reach. "Isn't there something you should say first?"
'He's got to be kidding,' she thought wildly, enraged that he was behaving so high handed with her.
"They are my shoes!" she spat through gritted teeth, making one more futile attempt to grab them, well aware how churlish she was sounding and not caring one iota.
"It still doesn't mean you can get away with a lack of manners."
"Manners!" she echoed giving a derisory laugh at hearing these farcical words from her Colonel. She stabbed a finger towards his chest. "That's hilarious coming from you!" Her voice was cuttingly thin and she noticed a dark frown cross Jack's features at the ugliness of her tone.
"Careful, Captain." He was warning her not to overstep the mark but she was past caring. Visions of him enfolding Kelly in his arms seared her mind and a jealous rage overwhelmed her reasoning.
She pushed him hard, and unprepared for the assault, he fell back perhaps more surprised than Sam that he wasn't so rock solidly immoveable.
"I didn't think you needed your rank to protect you – Sir." Her last word was thrown at him as an insult and even in the shadows she saw the blood rush to his face as his jaw hardened.
"I think you've said enough, Carter."
"I haven't even started," she cried hotly as she moved to push him once too often.
He grabbed her arm, spinning her round, pinioning her against his body, using her own arms to cross over her holding her prisoner. When she looked as if she would lash back with her foot, Jack merely sidestepped and hooked a leg round her own legs. She struggled desperately but his grip was firm.
"Are you going to behave?"
She stilled, and just when she thought he'd lowered his guard, feeling him relax, she slammed her bare heel hard against his shin, satisfaction coursing through her when she felt his hold loosen and heard him swear.
She shot out of his grip, aware that his hands had attempted to grab her again. She shied away heading for the thick undergrowth and freedom until a sharp yank on her collar stopped her in her tracks. She twisted away but this time another hand grabbed the belt of her trousers.
"Carter, what the hell's gotten into you?" Exasperation vied with his anger.
"Let me go!" She struggled ineffectively.
"Not until you stop acting like a demented three year old."
What was agonizingly frustrating for Sam now was that Jack had got such a firm hold on her she was prevented from making any kind of serious contact with his body. All she wanted to do was hurt him, to try and stop the pain inside her own body.
Endeavouring to break loose, she flailed with her arms and legs, her rage increasing in line with her impotence.
"How long do you intend keeping this up, Carter?" He sounded bored.
She stilled, heart beating as the blood thundered in her ears, gasping for air.
"Had enough, 'cos I sure as hell have?" She felt her scruff being shaken to emphasise her captor's superiority. "I'm going to let go now and you're going to pick up your shoes and put them on while I quietly disappear."
She wasn't sure whether it was his annoying tone of voice making her feel two inches tall or not, but the moment she felt herself released she swung.
Contact was solid and painful for both of them. Sam had a moment in time to see Jack's black eyes flash with confusion and then something infinitely more dangerous took over. And as realisation struck her like an ice cold shower, she stared in horror at the blood dripping from his split lip.
"Oh, God." She stumbled backwards, caught like a rabbit in his burning glare.
"HE isn't going to help you now, Carter." His voice, devoid of all emotion, pierced her body like stinging arrows.
"I…I'm sorry!"
"You will be……Payback can be such a bitch!"
Appalled at her own behaviour, yet aware of the sinister threat, Sam could only back away, frightened eyes glued to her CO's, as Jack followed her step for step.
"I……I just don't know what came over me!" she spluttered.
"Oh, you soon will, Carter, – that I promise."
The threat was all too clear as Sam's eyes dropped to his right hand which was flexing. She dared to look back into his eyes and saw the barely controlled anger bubbling there.
"Sir, I…I… think we should talk."
"Tried that."
Casting a hasty glance over her shoulder, Sam realized that if she wasn't careful she was going to end up in the black lake. Was he going to force her into the freezing water?
It's pretty cold in there."
Black eyes seared her own.
"Don't worry, when my hand makes contact with the seat of your pants, you'll soon warm up."
As the ghastly realization hit her, Sam dared to cast her imploring blue eyes up and what she saw made her cringe.
"You can't do that."
"Really?" His tone mocked her mercilessly.
"It's against regulations." She was getting desperate.
He gave a sharp bark of humourless laughter. "Like not hitting your CO?"
She cringed at the memory, unable to believe what had, only moments earlier, taken place.
"Sir, look," her eyes, open wide, pleaded, "we're two grown adults. We don't have to resort to violence."
In the freezing moonlight his bleeding lip made a cold mockery of her words.
"Negative on that, Carter. I'm the adult – you're the spoilt brat who's going to get some well deserved retribution."
The gleam of fixed determination in his eye had Sam's heart plummeting yet she knew she had to avoid such humiliation at all costs.
It was a matter of yards to the lake's edge; it was now or never.
She feigned to her left then as Jack reached out, she veered right, dropped to her knees, shot forward, and scrambled to freedom. Desperation gave her the extra thrust to evade his outstretched hands, then she was up and running, running for all her life as if a pack of Goa'uld were on her tail.
Go to Part 6