Sorry for the mistakes this chapter isn't beta'd. Hoping I'll get back into a routine and chapters will be out on time. Thanks for your patience.


"Major Carter?" An airman poked his head nervously around the corner to peer into the infirmary.

"Yes?" Sam said and sat up a bit straighter to be ready to jump into action in case the gate was malfunctioning or something was going to blow up.

"A phone call for you,"

"Who is it?"

"A Pete Shanahan, ma'am,"

Sam sighed and rolled her eyes at Daniel who chuckled. "Tell him I'm busy and I'll call him back later,"

"Yes ma'am," the airman departed quickly and Daniel turned to stare at Sam.

"What?" she asked.

"You're busy?" Daniel asked disbelievingly eyeing the long since discarded laptop and paperwork.

"Very," she said and continued to read her book.

"Um...ma'am?" the airman's head poked around the corner once more. "He's says it's an emergency,"

"What kind of an emergency?" she asked puzzled.

"He's in jail, ma'am,"

Daniel quickly averted his gaze from the conversation and pushed up his glasses to disguise his growing mirth. Sam glared at him and left to follow the airman to the phone.

"Pete, I…" she started when she reached the offending machine.

"Carter! Come and bail me out,"

"Pete?" she asked confused. "Did you just call me 'Carter'?"

"I'm not Pete,"

"You sound a lot like him," Sam was quickly losing patience with the conversation. Of all the times Pete could choose to play a game with her, this was the worst.

"I realise that." He didn't sound too happy about that fact. "Look. I don't know how to break this to you but you've handled worse so here goes……I'm Colonel O'Neill,"

Sam sighed angrily and lent her head against the wall. "Pete, don't joke about these things,"

"I'm not joking, Carter!" he said desperately "I'm here!"

"Jack O'Neill is here. He's in a coma, Pete,"

"I'm in a coma?"

"No! The Colonel's in a coma," she spat into the phone.

"You're telling me after everything we've seen you don't believe that I could jump into your boyfriend's body?"

He had a point. "If you're the Colonel then where's Pete?"

"He's unconscious,"

"You knocked out my boyfriend!" Sam asked appalled.

"I didn't do it! Anyway, Pete asked for it," Jack squeaked then cleared his throat. "Does this mean you believe me?"

"Just stay there, I'm coming to get you," Sam sighed.

"Oh yeah, like I'm going to get far with these legs," Sam chuckled despite herself. "Uh oh,"

"What?" she asked.

"I think Pete's waking up. I better hang up before he does, he didn't want to call you. I've got to go. Thanks for coming. Get here quick. Ok Bye." He hung up before Sam could respond. She was left there with her mouth hanging open.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Hey!" the cop said frustrated while tapping his foot feverously and snapping his fingers in front of Pete's squigy nose. "Wake up! We don't have all day," he positioned himself directly in front of the catatonic Pete and waved his arms in front of the shorter man's face. Finally deciding, after ten minutes of trying to get his attention, that maybe the guy needed some help, the cop peered into Pete's unfocused gaze. His eyes were glazed over and the stare shot straight through the cop and into what appeared to be nothing. It registered nothing, it recognised nothing and it certainly didn't respond to anything. The lights were on but nobody seemed to be home.

The cop screwed his brows together in confusion and took Pete by the shoulders and shook him roughly. "Snap out of it," he ordered "Rob!" he called over his shoulder "Come and see this!"

'Rob' strode purposely over to the motionless figure and the irritated cop and took a good look at Pete and his unmoving form. "He's like one of those London guards…the ones with the weird hats… you can do anything to them,"

"Think he'll come out of it?" the cop asked worriedly.

"Yeah, he just needs to sort out an inner conflict,"

"What?"

"Well you see, Phil," said Rob with an all-knowing and superior look "When one goes into this kind of shock its usually the result of some traumatic or confusing conflict within themselves,"

"Ooooh," Phil said with an understanding nod but really he understood as much as flea would when given the same speech. "I thought it was drugs,"

Rob opened his mouth to give a smart and probably longwinded answer only to have nothing come out. He paused and shut his mouth again. "Could be," he said

However, Rob's first explanation, surprisingly, was much closer to the truth then anyone in the station could have thought. The 'conflict' Rob was talking about took the form of Jack O'Neill and it was going something like this:

"We had to call someone, Pete! I don't know any of your friends!" Jack said grumpily.

"I can't believe you took over my body, you son of a…"

"Well it's not like you were using it, you were knocked out by one punch,"

"That guy was HUGE!"

"All I'm saying is, if you'd let me have some control from the beginning you wouldn't have been punched at all,"

"If I let you have control you would have gone and done exactly what you have just done!"

"Carter should know! She can help!"

"Do you always go running to my girlfriend for help?" Pete asked icily.

Jack froze briefly at the shock at such an unexpected question and immediately began to get defensive. "I know her strengths. This kind of stuff is one of them," he said angrily.

"Close, are you?"

"What do you expect? We've worked together on the same team for seven years. You can't not become friends," Jack growled, not liking where this line of questioning was going.

"Side by side, in the face of danger. Every day, blood pumping. Pretty exciting, anything can happen in the heat of the moment," Pete answered with his own menacing growl as the words formed through gritted teeth.

Jack fumed, not only at the accusation of his honour but the accusation of Sam's. He could understand Pete being suspicious of him, they hardly knew each other after all but not trusting Carter was insulting.

"I think we need to focus on the matter at hand instead of making stupid conclusions about something you know nothing about,"

"Why are you so angry? I've got it right, haven't I?" Pete carried on. Jack didn't grace him with an answer. He could feel Pete's emotions, it made sense that it could go the other way round. Right now Pete was furious but also kind of triumphant. "You're in love with her, aren't you!" he yelled.

In love? Strong words from a mouth that knows nothing about them. Is he in love with her? Or is it a yearning for something he can't have? No…. It's a constant feeling that can either make him feel very, very good or very, very guilty. A simple crush wouldn't make him cringe at his inappropriate thought and smile at the little things she does. The quirk of her lips as she tries not to laugh at a joke he's just told. Because to laugh would be improper and would only encourage him to tell more terrible jokes. And yet a small smile is all that he needs to lift his spirits and put a spring in his normally dull step and eventually tell another bad joke to catch that twitch at the side of her mouth that tells him he's been successful in amusing her once again. It's true he does look to her for help and guidance. It used to be just for military or scientific advice but now he looks to her to lighten his mood, to care for him when he's down, to sit with him in the infirmary, eat with him at lunch, joke with him, laugh with him, share looks with him.

"She doesn't love you." Pete snapped.

"You're deranged Shanahan! We're friends, nothing more." Jack said, then realised something quite odd. "Who's driving the body?"

"I thought you were!"

"I thought you were!"

"My turn!" Pete called.

"I hardly got any time with it, it's my turn!" they both started to struggle for control and move themselves out from their stupor. Each of them gaining control of different sections until they were a mess of confusion and tried to walk in opposite directions and collapsed on the floor.

"Oh, well done," said Pete gruffly. He'd obviously gained control of the mouth.

"Bite me,"

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO