Jack kicked his trash can across the office, its clatter the only satisfying response he'd had since leaving Carter's lab. His subtle inquiries had all been in vain.
He had no clues. Of any kind. Nothing to even hint as to how Carter had been hurt, or what she was covering up. Jonas Hanson was the obvious candidate, but he had an air-tight alibi. Jack had seen to it that Hanson was assigned plenty of overtime, partially as payback for the offensive excuse, but also to keep him on base as a backup line of defense for Carter. Even a jerk could usually be counted upon to protect his girlfriend if she were assaulted.
That still left the question of what had happened over the weekend. He resolved to stop by her house tonight, collect the mail, and chat with the neighbors to ask what they had seen her – or any visitors – doing the last few days. Beyond that, it was going to be difficult to piece it together without becoming obvious. He wanted to keep it covert for now. You didn't tip off the bad guys before you knew who they were.
The ultimate source of information was Carter herself. He'd put a little more friendly pressure on her to talk. He gave some thought to how to encourage her to talk, or distract her enough to let something slip.
Always start with the simple things, his father used to say. The way to a captain's confession might just be through her stomach. Being friendly with the cafeteria staff proved to be handy for more than just getting the cleaner forks. They happily agreed to fulfill his request for their 'famous' macaroni-and-cheese the following day. Carter hated that stuff almost as much as the meat loaf. And, sad to say, the salad bar was ruined when someone stumbled into its portable cart and knocked it over. They really should make those things sturdier, he thought to himself. It could take weeks to repair, especially if the request form somehow got 'lost' in the system.
Oddly enough, by that evening even the vending machines were out of her favorite items and seemed to be chock full of gummy worms, jujubes, and other rubbery things she found revolting.
oOo
Day 2: Fact Finding Mission
He stopped by her lab the next morning, ostensibly to see her, but knowing she was involved in a meeting elsewhere. He could hardly expect Carter to stand by while he pumped her assistants for information. She was up to three now, and the trio couldn't be more different.
Fenton was a hot-tempered little scrapper who wouldn't take crap from anyone. Jack suspected that it came, at least in part, from fighting her way through technical schools and the Air Force. Or maybe it was the other way around and her temperament helped her make it through. Majors was the tall, dark, silent type. Literally. The family man worked hard but spoke little, and Jack didn't know that much about him. Even his desk was unadorned save for the photo of three smiling boys saluting their father. The effervescent Cooper rounded out the bunch. She and Fenton were in the lab and looked up as he entered.
Cooper smiled radiantly at him, as she always did. She seemed genuinely pleased to see nearly everyone she encountered, and was always upbeat and optimistic. Joyful, that was the word. She was Joy Incarnate. It wasn't even irritating, as none of it ever seemed forced or facetious. He wished they could all be so blessed.
"Cooper. Fenton." He acknowledged them both.
"Good morning, Colonel," Cooper beamed. She couldn't have looked happier if he was Santa Claus. Fenton sported that semi-suspicious, semi-curious expression people got when superiors dropped by unexpectedly.
He glanced around the room, and Cooper guessed his thought. "Captain Carter is in a meeting, sir. We don't expect her back till after lunch. Is there anything we can help you with?"
"I'll catch up with her later. What are you working on?" He said it casually, as if being polite. He listened to the nineteen-syllable words in the answer as he surreptitiously checked for clues to the Carter mystery.
When he realized that she had finished, he asked Fenton the same question, and received a similar mind-numbing answer. And still didn't pick up any clues. A little chatter about current events in lab-life was no more fruitful. Eventually, he ran out of casual-sounding questions.
"Carry on. I'll just leave Carter a note."
He wandered over to her desk and fished about for a sticky note… and any other notes she may have left lying around. Nothing seemed of interest - all technical mumbo-jumbo; nothing to get excited about, let alone beaten up over. He was writing his 'come see me when you have a minute' message when the phone rang.
Cooper answered, her face instantly becoming serious. She spoke quietly, too quietly for him to hear from Carter's desk, then hung up and turned glumly back to her computer.
"Cooper?"
She looked up soberly. "Yes, sir?"
"Everything ok?"
"Yes, sir." She smiled, a wan echo of her original welcoming grin. She didn't so much as meet his eyes, looking instead somewhere in the neighborhood of his chin. He didn't say anything else, and she turned again to her computer.
He stuck his note to Carter's monitor, then wandered back over to Fenton to look at more of the pretty-colored patterns of gibberish on her screen. "What was that all about?" he asked quietly, indicating Cooper, hoping he had found a clue at last.
Fenton glanced at her coworker and shrugged. "Husband. She gets like that sometimes after he calls. She'll be ok in a little while."
Rats. Not the last-minute-perfectly-timed clue like they always got on TV. The whole fact-finding mission was a bust, then.
He knocked the table as he turned to leave, bumping one of the objects on it in the process. The solid-looking object, which resembled a 3-D replica of the patterns Fenton had on her screen, turned out to be a construction of dozens of small pieces. They clattered to the ground with a sound like rain on a tin roof.
Jack and Fenton stared at the colorful pile in equal dismay.
"Sorry," he said, bending to pick them up.
"Careful, sir, they're…fragile."
He stopped touching them, sheepishly offering her the bits of the one he had just inadvertently broken. She set them on the table and bent to carefully pick at the rest.
"Is there anything I can do?" Jack felt bad about the…whatever it was. It looked complicated.
"You've done enough already, sir." She paused, looking up at him uncertainly. Ok, it wasn't the way to address a superior officer, but she'd be pretty damn pissed if she got in trouble after he messed up her stuff!
"Understood, lieutenant," he said quietly, a half smile showing that he did understand and mutely repeating his apology.
oOo
Day 3: Hot Button
The lab door was propped open the next afternoon when Jack came to visit. He stepped inside, automatically fanning himself as the heat rose a solid twenty degrees. He almost felt guilty as he looked around the room.
Sweat stains were clearly visible on Fenton's t-shirt despite the fact that a fan stood on the table not two feet from her. Her dark hair stood out from her head as if it, too, were trying to escape the heat. Majors, without benefit of a fan, resembled the guys in the Gatorade commercials, with beads of perspiration lining his smooth mahogany skin and pasting his tank top to his muscular chest. The pair looked wearily up at him
Cooper, as always, smiled happily at the newcomer, transforming the sweat on her face into a glow. Didn't anything get her down? She'd combed her pale locks to one side, slicking her usual curls into a smooth 'wet' look. Even the sweater she wore in apparent solidarity with Carter didn't faze her. Carter herself was out of sight, working on something under a bench from the sound of it.
"Anything we can do for you, sir?" Majors asked, clearly hoping for some errand that would take him out of this sweat shop.
Fenton jumped on the bandwagon. "You were asking about my simulation software the other day, sir. I'd be happy to show you how to use it on your computer." In your nice gotta-be-cooler-than-this office, she finished silently.
Carter's head popped up over one of the benches. Her hair was plastered to her head, and rivulets of sweat rolled down her neck and into the sweater she still wore to cover the half-healed bruises. Her eyes looked shockingly hollow and he was concerned until he realized that her mascara was just not quite as waterproof as she thought it was.
He shook his head in answer to Fenton and Majors. "Anything to report, Carter?" he asked innocently, head cocked to one side.
She sighed. "No, sir."
oOo
Day 4: A Man or a Mouse
Jack lounged against the doorjamb, watching the activity in the lab with amusement. Carter dove towards him suddenly, landing with her outstretched hands barely touching his boots.
"Carter, please!" he teased. "People will talk."
She half-suppressed a glare as she levered herself up to her knees before him, hampered by the unavailability of her hands. "Sir," she said stiffly.
"Don't worry about it, Carter. Women throw themselves at my feet all the time. Just not usually on base." He hadn't moved from where he lounged in the doorway.
She clambered to her feet, taking a careful peek at what she now held in her hands. "Not this time, sir." She shifted her grip and showed him the mouse. "This one's a male. Maybe your animal magnetism has the wrong polarity."
Damn it! He should know better than to engage in a battle of words with a freaking scientist. He hesitated, trying to form a good comeback.
Saved by the belle.
Fenton asked him to move so she could pass by with another rodent. "This little guy almost made it to the elevator. And they said these things weren't intelligent!"
Cooper, over by the half-filled cage, smiled sadly and stroked her mouse. "Wish I could tell you everything's going to be alright, buddy." It tried to escape up her arm. She caught it gently and stroked it again before putting it in the cage. "I feel for you, but you don't have a choice. At least you'll be suffering for your country." She closed the little door, trapping him inside with the others.
"Did you need something, sir?" Carter asked Jack as Cooper took the mouse from her hands.
"You know what I need, Carter," he said seriously.
"Sorry, sir. Too busy just now. Somehow, thirty mice escaped from the biolab next door. We've only caught nineteen so far. I don't suppose you'd care to help?"
"Happy to, Carter."
She brightened, surprised that he was going to help clean up the mess he had surely created.
He smiled sweetly at her. "Mice like cheese. I'll ask the dining hall to whip up some more of their famous macaroni and cheese."
oOo
Day 5: Water Park
Jack paused, frowning at the sandbags before stepping over them and into the two inches of water in the lab. His jaw dropped slightly as he looked around at the crew busily undoing the damage. Several were sucking water up off the floor with shop-vacs. Others were more carefully drying out equipment, supervised by the ever-cheerful Cooper.
Carter, Majors, and Fenton had the highest security clearance and were going through sodden paperwork, deciding what could be saved and how to dispose of what could not. Illegible sheets were piling up in a large plastic trash bag. Ruined, but still legible, documents would be a problem; standard procedure would be to burn them but nothing in this soggy room was likely to burn any time soon.
"Did someone leave a window open?"
Carter turned to him, lips pursed as she forced herself to consider her words before speaking. "The sprinkler system went off. Sir."
He hadn't engineered this, but he didn't bother to deny it; given the past few days, she'd never believe him anyway. He peeled a waterlogged manila folder off of a bench and held it up. "Sure works well," he commented wryly as the folder sagged and drops of water began forming their own little waterfall to add to the mess on the floor.
He didn't miss the angry exhale from his second. If they were alone, she'd probably be giving him an earful, regardless of rank. Well, Jack O'Neill was not one to cower in the face of danger. He fiddled with the wet folder, crushing it in his hands then molding it like papier-mâché into the form of an animal. He set it proudly on the table, earning an appreciative smirk from Majors.
"It was running since 11:30 last night, sir."
His eyes widened in surprise and she tensed in fury. As if he didn't know!
Fenton shot her a nervous glance, switched to the Colonel, and back to Carter. Jack noticed, and wondered if Carter was going to lose her temper despite the witnesses. Maybe if she did, she'd also let on something about who had hurt her.
"Any idea what set it off?" He casually rolled up a pair of damp sticky notes and put jaunty yellow 'ears' on his animal. Actually, he probably had done this, albeit unintentionally. He must have touched it off when he installed the two new, hidden, security cameras in the lab last night.
"Yes, sir. Somehow," she glared right at him as she icily emphasized the word, "two tiles from the dropped ceiling fell last night. The first one happened," again the emphasis, "to be in front of the security camera. The second hit the manual 'test' button on the sprinkler."
"What a rotten coincidence," he commented, sounding innocent and surprised. The first tile was his doing. The second must have come down after he left. He found a blue formerly-sticky note and made a tail for his animal. He smirked at her over the little beast's back. "Science still can't beat Murphy's Law!"
He thought for a moment that she might actually leap across the table and try to hurt him. Jack reached out and bent the blue tail, giving it a saucy little curve and giving himself a reason to have his hands already out in front, just in case. Come on, Carter, he silently encouraged. Lose your temper. Yell me a hint.
She controlled herself with obvious difficulty. "If you don't mind, sir, we need to get back to work."
Rats. No clues today. "All right. Want me to send you any more help?"
"No, sir. I think you've done enough already."
Fenton glanced quickly at the Colonel, wondering how he would react to the repeat of her own comment from a few days before.
"I haven't done anything," he replied, eyes on hers.
She took the modest demurral for the threat it was, but didn't answer.
He rolled one last sticky note into a sphere and set it in front of his animal, as if it were playing with it. "Have a ball!"
oOo
Jack stopped by again after lunch, bringing Teal'c with him. The big guy was Carter's teammate and friend, Jack told himself, and he'd want to check on her. Asking him along had nothing to do with facing an already pissed-off Carter right after yet another meat-loaf lunch. Nothing at all.
Actually, now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Carter in the dining hall. Fenton had been there, and Majors, and several of the others he'd seen in the lab that morning. But not Carter. Or Cooper, for that matter. He wondered if the captain had sent the lieutenant out for real food; she'd be the logical choice as she wouldn't object to being sent on trivial errands. It had worked in his favor, though, since Teal'c had noticed Carter's absence and commented upon it. Which gave him the perfect opening to invite him along to check on the situation in the lab.
The scene had improved greatly over the last few hours. The sandbags were gone, as the flood they were holding back was reduced to wet floors and the occasional puddle. There was nary a paper to be seen, so presumably they had made it through that job as well.
Carter and her assistants were still working on the equipment. Things were opened up with parts strewn across every horizontal surface. It looked like a huge, high-tech jigsaw puzzle.
"Carter? How's it going?"
She looked tired and damp, but still in a better mood than when he saw her last. "Making progress, sir." She swiped a hand through her hair, spiking it further. Clearly not the first time today that she'd done that.
"Was there much damage?"
"Surprisingly not. A lot of ruined papers, but most can be re-printed. We catalogued what we lost. A lot of the equipment had been covered up yesterday."
Cooper smiled happily. "Guess the mice turned out to be lucky! We closed or covered all the lower equipment to keep them out and it kept the water out, too."
"We still have to finish checking out all the equipment that wasn't on the floors," Carter pointed out, not about to let her CO off easily. "I'll be here half the night."
"Can I be of assistance, Captain Carter?" Teal'c offered.
"Cooper will be better help. But thanks." She glanced at the other woman, receiving an automatic nod of agreement.
He inclined his head at her and her just-drafted assistant. The lieutenant didn't seem to mind the extra work.
oOo
"Let's call it a night," Carter suggested. They were both tired. Jonas would finish his double-shift soon, and they could share some rubbery cafeteria food and commiserate. Her assistant had company to look forward to, too.
"There's just these two left. I can finish them up," Cooper offered.
Stifling a yawn, and well aware that the Colonel was not here to feel guilty, Carter demurred. "They can wait till morning. Get on out of here."
"It's no problem, really." The lieutenant fumbled with the screws holding the shielding on a machine.
"Go home, Cooper. Bob's waiting for you."
The shielding plate crashed to the floor. Carter felt a twinge of guilt herself as the plate slipped back to the floor with another crescendo. The junior officer's hands were shaking. The woman must be exhausted. She took the plate gently from her. "Go home, Cooper," she said firmly. "Now."
oOo
Days 6 through 9: Out of this World
Jack allowed Carter to leave the base to take part in SG-1's scheduled mission. She noticed that he was suspiciously absent from the camp when it was discovered that all of their MRE's were macaroni. And that the chocolate bars they usually carried had been replaced with jujubes.
When they returned, even Daniel was ready for a break from macaroni, though that was his favorite MRE. He suggested they go out for steaks, enticing them with tempting detailed descriptions.
Jack cocked an eye at an obviously drooling Carter, hoping she'd break and tell him what was going on.
She glared defiantly back.
He shrugged. "Maybe we should stay here and eat with Carter," he suggested to the team.
She looked pleasantly surprised at the idea. "What's the cafeteria serving?" He checked the notice on the bulletin board. "Macaroni."
Daniel looked queasy, weighing loyalty to his friend against several days of nothing but macaroni for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He'd been desperate enough at one point to try mixing the jujubes in, just to make it different. It hadn't helped.
Tealc looked ready to throw himself onto yet another bowl of noodles if the sacrifice was truly necessary, but didn't say anything; no doubt hoping one of the others would save him from that cruel fate.
Jack himself was ready to hurl at the very word 'macaroni.' And, he reminded himself, this was her doing, not his. "Sorry, Captain. I just can't face more noodles right now without a damn good reason."
Teal'c and Daniel looked relieved.
oOo
"Thought you would have fixed that dent by now, Jack," Daniel commented as he got into the car. He knew how meticulous Jack was about his truck.
Jack shrugged. "I'll get around to it." In fact, he thought to himself, he might never fix it. A little reminder to watch out for his team at all times, in all places.
oOo
Day 10: She Slipped on a Bar of Soap. Honest.
"Hey, Cooper, want a Whopper? Burger King is doing two-for-one." Majors offered the paper bag to his coworker.
"No, they're no—hey!" Fenton bristled instantly; no one stopped her from talking! She moved close to Majors, waving a finger right in his face.
He pushed the offending arm away from him, and Fenton automatically countered, swiveling her arm around under his to strike the inside of his bicep.
Majors didn't want a fight. He knew his hot-headed coworker just needed a moment for her temper to cool; he shoved with both hands, intending to make some distance between them and hopefully allow for some time to defuse this stupid situation. Cooper had the same idea of separating the two, the action landing her between them just in time to take the hit instead of Fenton.
"Hey!"
All three startled at the angry bellow and turned to face the trio in the doorway. Captain Carter, Teal'c, and Colonel O'Neill. O'Neill had done the yelling, to get their attention, and was probably about to do a lot more judging by the thunderous look on his face.
"Did I just see you strike a fellow officer?" Jack demanded, advancing on Majors. Carter and Teal'c trailed behind him.
"No, sir," Cooper answered for him. "He slipped."
Jack shook his head. He knew the military standard cover-up when he heard it, and was actually pleased to hear that they would stand together even through their dispute. He would have gone along with it if he could. "Can't accept that, lieutenant. I saw him strike you."
She started to say something else, pausing at his warning glance. She seemed to deflate a bit, then straightened back up. "Majors was struck first, sir. What you saw was him responding to that." She thrust her chin out defiantly at his considering look. "That's the God's honest truth, sir. Ask anyone."
He glanced at the other two, who reluctantly nodded. Fair enough, then. But he had no choice but to act on what he had seen. "Confined to quarters for forty-eight hours, Lieutenant."
"Yes, sir." She turned to her computer, logging off in preparation to leave. She paused momentarily, as if realizing something, then smiled brilliantly at him. "Thank you, sir!" She headed toward the door with a spring in her step.
"Cooper."
She turned at his call, still smiling.
"Don't take it so hard."
The grin broadened and she saluted. "Yes, sir!" She turned smartly and marched out of sight.
Jack shook his head and turned to the remaining pair in feigned seriousness. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
They smiled at him and he knew the message was heard; he had to act on what he saw but otherwise he was supporting them keeping it between themselves. Now if only a certain Captain would understand him, too, and tell him what the heck was going on…
oOo
Jack and Teal'c crowded around Jack's PC, watching the security tapes of the lab. Majors walking in, offering a bag to Cooper, then kicking Fenton lightly. Fenton responding to Majors, with Cooper jumping between and being struck. A trivial incident, really, not unusual among a bunch of energetic and stressed individuals. Would never have been reported if senior officers hadn't seen it. Only one thing puzzled Jack.
"So why did she say she hit Majors?"
"She did not."
"You heard her," Jack reminded him.
"She said that Majors was struck first, as indeed he was. It is we who assumed that she was the instigator."
"She wanted us to think that."
Teal'c inclined his head in agreement.
"But why?" Jack considered his own question. His already-suspicious mind pointed out an unpleasant similarity. Two attacks, albeit of different intensity. Two women, both covering for the attacker. One lab. He decided not to share his concerns, on the chance that they really were coincidence. "Nice of her to take the fall for her buddies."
"Indeed," Teal'c concurred, narrowed eyes showing that he, too, was contemplating something.
Neither voiced his thoughts aloud.
oOo
Day 11: Straight Up
Jack stopped at Carter's lab in the afternoon, as was becoming his habit. Maybe today would be the day she'd answer his question. He paused in the doorway, as yet unnoticed by the occupants. The lab was quietly busy, as always. The younger officers were working on various tasks, and Carter was at her computer. As he watched, she struggled stiffly to her feet and he felt a pang of guilt at being the cause of her discomfort. She stretched luxuriously and he waited, enjoying the view – hey, he was a guy after all. No harm done as long as he didn't act on it. Or get caught. That thought got him moving, even as she sat back down.
She stood again when he approached.
"At ease, Carter." His eyes twinkled, but he managed not to smirk.
She hadn't been intending to come to attention, just to stand up and ease her aching back, but she couldn't say that. "Thank you, sir," she responded, baring her teeth in a semblance of a smile. She sat back down, carefully.
"Something wrong with your chair?" He was all innocence and concern.
"Not at all. I'm using it to improve my posture. Works wonders, sir." She smiled at him deliberately. "You ought to try it."
He straightened up automatically at the jibe, then smiled smugly. "Never had that problem myself, Carter. But I hope it works for you."
"Did you need something, sir?" she asked tiredly, not bothering to make another snippy comment.
"You know what I'm here for, Carter," he said meaningfully. I'm here to get an answer. I'm here to protect you. I'm here to confide in and console.
She still wasn't ready to give in. Stubborn people could be so annoying.
oOo
Day 12: Suspicious Minds Want to Know
Carter walked into the lab and Lieutenant Majors snapped to attention. She looked at him suspiciously. They were lax on formality here, especially on the afternoon shift since there were rarely visitors to keep up appearances for, and he had not saluted her since the first day he reported for duty. Had she just walked in on something?
"Majors. What's up?" she asked, unconsciously sounding like her own CO.
"Nothing, ma'am!" he answered smartly, still at attention, still staring straight ahead. "Er, sir!" he amended hastily, switching to the salutation now considered gender-neutral by the military. "Nothing, sir!"
"At ease, Lieutenant."
"Thank you, sir," he dropped into the parade rest stance, looking anything but at ease. What had she interrupted?
She looked warily around the room, checking for further 'encouragement' from the Colonel. Quizzed the junior officer on his work until she was sure he had indeed been working. Which is what she'd normally expect from the quiet, intense lieutenant.
"Has Colonel O'Neill been here?"
The lieutenant's eyes bugged out. "Sir, yes, sir!" he barked, moving back to attention. Oh, boy, had he been here. Majors swallowed as he recalled the Colonel's very explicit warning that there had better not be the slightest hint of impropriety among lab personnel. And doubly so with the Colonel's own team. Or else.
Her eyes narrowed. "What did he touch?"
"Nothing, sir!"
"Did he leave me a message?"
"No, sir!"
"And you're sure he didn't touch anything?"
"Yes, sir!"
She considered. "Did he order you to do anything?"
"No, sir!"
"So why are you so tense?
"I'm sorry, sir!" he barked.
She walked toward him, watching him closely. "Majors, what's wrong?"
She reached out a hand to touch his arm and he nearly hyper-ventilated.
"Nothing, sir! Nothing! I… I … I don't feel well, sir. Permission to go to the infirmary, sir?"
He wanted out of the lab. Very badly. After the Colonel had stopped by. Damn it, what did Jack do?
"Please, sir! Permission to go to the infirmary?"
She snapped out of her thoughts. Whatever the Colonel had done had scared the crap out of Majors. She decided she needed a reason to be elsewhere when whatever happened happened. "I'll take you. Come on." She pulled on his sleeve gently.
"Sir! I can walk unassisted, sir!" He edged away so that the cloth of his shirt was stretched between her fingers and his arm, but didn't actually pull it away from her. He stared at their arms, frantically trying to decide which was less likely to count as an impropriety: having physical contact or resisting a superior officer to the trivial degree of freeing his sleeve.
She released him and he looked somewhat relieved. He marched silently to the infirmary, looking like he was heading for a firing squad. She turned him over to Janet, and borrowed the doctor's office.
She was still watching the security cameras in her lab when Janet returned. "How's Majors?" she asked, not raising her eyes from the picture of the placid lab.
"He'll be fine. I'm sending him home, though."
"So he really was sick?"
"You sound glad to hear it!"
She looked sheepish. "Well…. He said the Colonel had been in the lab, and I thought that he did something. The Colonel, that is."
Janet pursed her lips, wondering if the Colonel had indeed done something. Majors had had a panic attack, though he swore nothing had instigated it.
oOo
Day 13: Hits the Spot
Carter looked up as someone entered the lab. So far, today had been a good day. If there was a prank, she hadn't found it yet. And Cooper was back from her confinement, bringing her staffing back to full force and making everyone's day easier.
Teal'c approached, offering her a small white-wrapped package from which a heavenly odor emanated.
"For me?" She hardly dared to hope.
"Indeed. I have discovered a new delicacy. It is called 'stromboli,' but it is only served in large portions. I thought you might enjoy the remaining half."
"Oh, yeah," she said with relish, her mouth already watering. Real food! Something that actually required teeth to eat. She unwrapped the package, revealing flaky pastry crust and intensifying the delicious smell. Licking her lips and lifting it up, she could see meat and vegetables rolled inside, with a trail of hot, melted cheese making its way down… to the mushroom.
She felt like crying.
A big honking mushroom stuck out at her like an ugly gray tongue. Another lurked behind it, half-hidden by a piece of broccoli. And another, up to the left near the warm meat and dripping cheese.
"Is something wrong?" Teal'c inquired.
"I'm allergic to mushrooms…" She stared disconsolately at the sandwich, tempted to eat it anyway and let Janet shove a tube down her throat to let her breathe. Maybe if she ate it in the infirmary…
The choice, and the stromboli, were taken from her by her solicitous teammate. She watched resentfully as Teal'c casually offered it to Cooper. The lieutenant scarfed three huge bites down before she had the decency to turn away.
Teal'c apologized for the mistake, and she forgave him, but still…
The day went downhill from there.
Teal'c found the lab very busy when he returned later with O'Neill. Carter and her three assistants were all busily typing away on their computers. They all looked up, Cooper flashing a brief welcoming smile, before the lieutenants turned back to their screens.
"What's not up?" Jack asked brightly.
As if he didn't know.
"We had a power outage this morning, sir. We're checking the files and recovering data."
"Bad luck," he commiserated.
She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Anything else to report?"
"No, sir. We'll be fine. Cooper can finish it tonight." Carter looked smugly at her superior; his little trick of the day wasn't going to affect her! She hadn't actually asked, but Cooper was always willing. And if not, they could sort it out later.
They both glanced at Cooper, who smiled brightly, as always.
Carter smiled back, gratefully at her, then smugly again at her own CO. No overtime tonight! Ha! Although… it wasn't a whole lot better to sit in her quarters since the electricity had gone on the fritz. She had ventilation and enough light to move around, but not enough for laptop, reading, or television. Maybe she'd hang out with Jonas while he worked his overtime shift.
"Were you not freed from confinement just this morning?" Teal'c inquired, knowing the answer but wondering why she would accept the additional responsibility.
"Well… Fenton and Majors have had to do my job for the past two days. And I won't have to stay very late."
oOo
Day 14: Squeezing It Out
Carter entered her lab with trepidation, relieved to find that nothing was dramatically wrong. Reasonable temperature, no living things other than her trio of lieutenants. Fenton said good morning. Cooper beamed. Majors nodded formally.
Ok, so she still hadn't figured out what was up with him yet. She might never know. He had refused to discuss it, and had become so reserved and proper that she was afraid she'd be losing him to another lab where he could relax.
"How'd the file recovery go, Cooper?"
"All present and accounted for after a lovely evening," she answered cheerily.
Fenton rolled her eyes. "I should have stayed to do it. Ended up shopping for flooring. Who knew there were 82 kinds of wood and twelve thousand carpets?" She glanced over at Majors. "What do you have?"
The father of three little boys chuckled, the first humor he'd displayed since his panic attack. "My floor covering? Lego and little green army men!"
Fenton bit her lip and tried to suppress a snicker.
Cooper slugged her unmarried coworker gently on the arm. "Get your mind out of the gutter!"
Carter glanced over at them.
Cooper smirked. "Fenton would love to have her floor covered with little army men!"
Fenton gave up the innocent act and grinned wickedly. "Not little ones..."
Carter snickered and Cooper shook her head. Majors said nothing, turning back to his work. The others followed suit. Carter settled herself at her computer. It was a quiet morning until Teal'c arrived, bearing donuts.
"I wish to atone for my previous error." He smiled slightly – a wide grin for him – and gifted her with a big white box.
"You didn't need to do that," Carter demurred, even as she reached for the box. "But thanks!"
She grinned at him, then opened the box and checked out the goodies. All gooey types, filled with cream or jelly. None of the glazed or plain kind she preferred. Still the best thing she'd had in days. She took a donut, waving the others to join her.
Teal'c helped himself, and Majors wasn't far behind. Cooper took hers next, happily thanking Teal'c for bringing her favorite, Boston Cream. She gasped sharply as Fenton pushed past on the way to the donuts.
Everyone looked at her.
Cooper grinned, licking her lips. "I love cream-filled donuts!" She lifted it with almost painful slowness, closing her eyes in pleasure as she extracted a bit more of the cream. "Sq-ww-ish!"
Carter set her donut down, grabbed some papers from her drawer, and stalked out of the room without a word. She stormed straight into O'Neill's office. Enough was enough.
Next: Too Late The Hero