A/N:i know i know, several of you have expressed more nterest in the little problem sg-1 has gotten themselves into than what it going one back at the sgc with katie. but i write what muse tells me to write and she demanded a katie chapter. don't worry the next chapter is already written and its an sg-1 chapter with an sj moment. SAS, when I say something is romance and is sj romance i mean it, but in the timeline for the story only two weeks have past since katie arrived at the sgc, lets give them some time to work things out and well remember this is jack and sam, they do nothing the easy way. also shetlandlace, i'm glad i brought another silent reader out of the closet, and thank's for the typo catch, maybe i should stop typing these chapters up while i should be sleeping. anyway, thanks ever so much to all who reviewed, you made my day. please remember, reviews make me smile
Chapter 17
Kate stared at the clock in her small office. Listened to the seconds tick by as she waited.
They were overdue.
To make it worse, no one was telling her anything, so she was reduced to this, waiting.
Hebron was freed and with no need of surgery, Janet had taken over his primary care. It was expected, after all, she was just a surgeon, Janet was the Chief Medical Officer, she was the person who was really in charge, even if Kate had been acting like it for the last two weeks.
Staring now at the depressing dull gray walls of her office as she listened to the old analog clock tick away she didn't bother to look up as Janet knocked gently on the frame of the open door.
"Kate? You need to get some rest. The General has given you two days downtime, go outside, get some sleep, talk Griff into taking you out on a date, anything. In two days you report to the Academy Hospital for your duties there. We've monopolized you enough."
"No." Kate continued to stare at the wall ahead of her, voice so quiet, Janet's highly trained bat-ears almost didn't catch it.
"Kate, there's nothing to do right now and besides you've had two weeks of very high stress and little sleep. You need to recharge and the Academy is part of your assignment here. You have no choice in this," Janet tried to reason.
"No. I'm not leaving. Something's wrong and I need to be here, not out having fun, besides Hank hasn't asked me out or anything, you are just being delusional about that, and I don't need to be at the Academy Hospital."
"One, I'm not being delusional, the man likes you, he wouldn't risk the Colonel's wrath otherwise, and two, you don't have a choice. You have to go to the Academy, you have to follow orders too you know."
"Which part of no don't you understand? I'm not leaving. I'll sleep on base, but under no circumstances am I leaving."
"You don't seem to understand Doctor, you don't have a choice in the matter," General Hammond's voice cut off anything Janet was about to say. He and Jacob had come down to check on Hebron and discuss what options the man had with Dr. Frasier.
"Why the hell not?" Kate's voice remained soft, but her tone was icy. Hammond looked hard at her, she was her father's daughter. Attitudes, tones, and all.
"Doctor, you work for the military, you are to report to the Academy Hospital in two days, you have no choice in that!"
"Something is wrong, I know it. It's not just them being SG-1 and thus always being late, something went wrong. Trust me on that, I have always known it when he has gotten hurt or….gone….missing. Don't ask me how, but I know when things go wrong on his missions. And I'm going to need to be here when they get back, because them not coming back isn't an option. You're going to need the full complement here, so I'm staying. Besides, what is there for me to do at the Academy Hospital? They actually schedule surgery there, so all I would be doing is sitting around listening to the interns and residents talk about how great they are or will be, or about where they went or some other totally useless thing that means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things." She continued to stare at the clock, voice never rising above a whisper.
"Dr. O'Neill, you cannot pick which parts of your assignment you fulfill. You are required to report to the Academy Hospital in two days, you have no choice about that. If you are needed back here, then someone will recall you from the Academy Hospital. But until then you will do as you are told." Hammond's voice was deathly quiet, a tone Janet and Jacob had only heard when someone, usually the Colonel, had, really really screwed up.
Kate looked up, locking her eyes on the General's, as if challenging him to a battle of wills that she would win. "No."
SGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGCSGC
Major Hank Griff stood in a spot where five years earlier Col. Jack O'Neill had stood. The only difference was that the Colonel had been worried about his second who at the time was snaked and he was questioning. Five years later in the same spot, Hank was trying not to laugh his ass off. Kate just glares at him and with a quiet humph crossed her arms over her chest and sat down on the hard cot, facing slightly away from him. Hank wouldn't ever admit it to her, but she looked extremely cute at that moment, and he added it to his new mental "album" of Kate moments.
"Come on Kate you have to admit that you knew the General was going to throw you in here. What can you be upset about?"
"I knew I'd be visiting these lovely guest quarters," she began waving one hand to indicate the dull hard gray paint and hard gray cot, which matched nicely with the hard gray bars that currently separated them, "but do you have to laugh at me? It's not polite you know."
"Oh I know sweetheart, but it's still hilarious. One good thing though…" he grinned at her, causing her to impishly stick her tongue out at him. How she and the Colonel had survived her childhood he had no idea.
"What? What possible good thing did this cause?"
"Well, you're stuck on base now, so you got what you wanted. And you are definitely going to get visitors, hell I think you have a fan club now."
"For what? Just cause I…."
"Yup. You did what everyone on base has been dying to do for years. Even better though, her nose will be crooked now."
"Gat, I finally start making friends and it's cause I broke Tok'ra Spice's nose." Kate dropped her head into her hands, and Griff could see her whole body start to shake with the suppressed laughter.
"Well, it was a great right hook. You were obviously taught by Marines."
"Try again Jarhead, the Air Force taught me both a great right hook and a left hook. And she did deserve it."
"When they get back, I'm betting SG-1 lines up for a shot at her. Nobody disrespects our Colonel like that," even though she was still shaking with laughter, her eyes had changed. They were dark and hard, they were predators eyes.
"Her face was priceless though, she never saw it coming," Hank noticed the change instantly and tried to turn the mood lighter again.
"Can we get the security camera footage?" she asked, returning to the light side.
"Sgts. Harriman and Siler already pulled it. Their trying to come up with a way to circulate it throughout the base, as if word of mouth hasn't already done a great job of that."
"Wouldn't you rather see it than hear about it?"
"Oh yeah, and I was there. Besides, there is a reason why the footage is my new screensaver," he grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows.
"Oh really?" Katie grinned back.
"Yup. It's definitely the best right hook I've seen in a long tome.
