Well, the chapter was ready so I thought 'what the hey, let them have it early'. Aren't I kind? BookWorm37: Ok there is pie, they are eating pie, Jack is thinking about pie. I don't know how I can incorporate pie more into this story. Are you happy NOW?


A plate of very appetising looking pie was placed in front of Pete and one just opposite from him as Sam sat down in her place at the table. To be honest, she looked thoroughly fed up with having to stay at home. She had a look of agitation and boredom clearly dominating her features. Jack realised this but Pete, it seemed, either didn't care or didn't notice her mood.

Pete took a large bite of the pie and started happily chewing to himself. For a while Jack decided to shut up and enjoy what little solace the pie brought him. Annoying Pete was tiring work; he would gratefully take this break. For some reason, pie called some sort of truce between the two men. It was short lived, however, as pie didn't seem to have the same effect on Sam as it did Pete and Jack.

"Pete," she started again, "Why did you pretend to be the Colonel this morning?"

Pete stopped chewing and looked at Sam thoughtfully. He was checking for any kind of trick or hint that she knew more than she was letting one. Jack was certain that that was the case. The phone call earlier was too weird for her to ignore… plus Carter wasn't an idiot. Everyone knew that.

In fact, Jack couldn't believe that Pete thought he was going to get away with this. For one thing, Sam was certain to find something odd about Pete's behaviour and while Pete had learnt how to take control over Jack, Jack was still learning how to take control over Pete and the Denver cop couldn't stay awake forever.

Jack waited for Pete's response while urging the man to put another piece of pie in his mouth. The sweet filling was just sitting there bare and left wanting for a tonguey home.

"Just one more piece, Pete," Jack pleaded, "Don't leave it there! Growing cold and lonely." It really was a waste to start a conversation without finishing that glorious piece of pie.

"I already told you why I did that," Pete said evenly while placing down his fork.

"Pick that fork back up!" Jack ordered, "You will not leave that pie homeless!"

"What?" Pete asked incredulously.

"What?" Sam narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious.

"Did you say something?" Pete asked to cover up his slip.

"No," Sam said slowly. She went back to eating her own slice of pie while Pete sat looking at the pie thoughtfully.

"Come on! Eat the pie then you can carry on lying to your heart's desire."

Pete sighed and picked up the fork again and started shovelling pie down his throat. They sat in an eerie silence, which was unusual as Jack would normally be talking or Sam would be. Jack had decided that pie was a good enough reason to shut up and Pete was trying to stay as quiet as possible. He couldn't see Sam but he could tell that she wasn't acting like herself. When something piqued Sam Carter's curiosity, it was not just let alone- it was prodded and taken apart and analysed.

Or it was observed.

She was observing them; looking for any sign that Pete wasn't being entirely truthful. Looking for any type of clue that would lead to what was really happening.

Jack had decided that pie could wait. He was searching for anything that wasn't being used that would send Carter a signal. Pete's eyes were firmly in the cop's control as were the lips, face and nose. The feet were tapping away a rhythm on the floor and the arm was aiding in the eating of pie. But that was only one arm; the other was left stationary on the table.

Seeing his chance, Jack concentrated on the arm and the hand with all its fingers willing it to come into his control without Pete realising. It was very much like slipping a hand into a sock and making it come alive as the puppet 'Mr Worm'. Not for the first time, Jack wondered how he ever survived his childhood.

The fingers started tingling very slowly then the wrist then it slowly spread towards the elbow and eventually stopped just short of the shoulder. It would have to do, he couldn't raise it in the air but he didn't want to at this moment of time. Pete would only try and stop it.

With the minimal amount of movement he could manage, Jack started forming hand signals they only really used on the field. First off, he opened the hand and waved at her to grab her attention. He couldn't see but he hoped it was enough to get her noticing him. He held up one finger in what he suspected was a gesture of silence. Slowly, but surely, he started spelling out his name with the fingers only stopping when Pete looked up to smile at Sam. Every time Jack was happy to see her quickly avert her gaze away from the forgotten hand.

He repeated his name a couple of times and was about to start communicating the situation when Pete started talking again.

"You seem quiet," he said as he peered apprehensively at Sam who was acting as if she hadn't been watching his hand for the past five minutes.

"I'm worried about my friend," she answered, glancing at the hand again.

Pete just let out a 'harrumph' and moved to put his plate in the dishwasher only to find that he had lost the use of one of his arms. He shook it at the shoulder and gave Sam a nervous glance. She was watching him with an amused smile on her face.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle at her expression.

"It's gone numb," Pete laughed anxiously. "Must have lent on it wrong."

Jack started signing again quickly.

'Get me out of here' he signed, 'he's so boring.'

He was going to say more but Pete quickly grabbed the wayward hand and grinned apprehensively at his girlfriend who was laughing.

"The doctors say it may be terminal," he said quickly.

"I bet it is." Sam replied, not believing a word Pete said. "Why couldn't you just tell me, Pete? I've handled weirder stuff than this, you know," She wasn't even mad; she was actually giggling to herself. The relief of finding Jack completely out-weighed the fact that Pete had been lying to her.

"No point in hiding it now," Jack taunted.

"This guy should not be allowed in public!" Pete said defensively "It is my duty to protect the public. And you."

"Pete, Colonel O'Neill is not a criminal!" Sam argued angrily. "You have no right to decide whether or not he should have his own body. Now stop being an ass and let me talk to him," she ordered.

"No!" Pete said stubbornly. "It's my body! If he's going to be staying in here, then I make the rules."

"You're being irrational!"

"Yeah Pete! Totally irrational!"

"You can just shut up!" Pete shouted at himself.

"Did you just tell me to shut up!" Sam asked, outraged.

"Did you just tell her to shut up?" Jack echoed to wind him up.

"No! I told him to shut up!" Pete shouted at Sam.

"She won't take kindly to that."

"Don't tell him to shut up! Let him speak!" Sam yelled.

"Told you," Jack said smugly.

"Anything he wants to say can be said through me!" Pete countered.

"Yeah, right! You'll just twist my words!"

"Can I trust you not to twist his words?" Sam asked sceptically.

"No!"

"Yes," Pete said forcefully to both Jack and Sam.

"All right." Calmly, she sat back down at the table from where she stood up to shout at Pete. She indicated that Pete should resume his place at the table as well. He scrapped the table leg against the floor and sat down with a thump.

"I won't relay his messages until he gives up the hand," Pete negotiated.

"Hey! I worked hard to get this hand," Jack cried.

"Pete, it's only an arm. You have two, I'm sure you can spare one," Sam said evenly.

"Thank you!"

"It's my arm!" Pete whined.

"Pete! Just!-" She stopped and calmed her voice. "Let him have the arm for a while, okay?"

"This sucks," Pete sulked.

"Colonel," she addressed him, ignoring her boyfriend's huffy behaviour. Jack waved happily and Sam grinned, elated to be communicating. Pete just rolled his eyes and looked off into the distance.

"Hey! Look back at her!" Jack said who didn't want a view of Sam's alphabetised bookcase.

"Why?" Pete asked. His was obviously not going to be cooperative.

"Because I want to see her," Jack said as if it was the most understandable thing in the world to want to do.

"You don't need to see her to talk to her," Pete muttered.

"Pete, just look at me and stop sulking," Sam ordered, getting the gist of what the conversation was about.

Pete grudgingly turned his attention back to Sam and raised his eyebrows in a 'Well?' expression.

Sam straightened her back and looked directly into Pete's eyes as if she could stare past Pete and into Jack. "Colonel, how did this happen?"

"I don't know, I was hoping you would figure it out," Jack began, filled with relief that the cop was cooperating.

"He doesn't have a clue," Pete provided.

"It must've been something to do with Sophie," Sam mused. The clogs were clearly turning in her vast mind. "Some kind of hidden technology on her person or in that room?"

"I didn't see anything like that."

"He doesn't have a clue," Pete provided again.

"I didn't say that! Say what I said! Word for word!"

Pete sighed, "I didn't see anything like that," he corrected and Sam nodded.

"Why would she do this?" she asked incredulously.

"To annoy the hell outta me!"/ "To annoy the hell outta me!" they shouted at the same time.

"Uh, guys, she has nothing against you two, I don't think." Sam was quiet for a moment. "She's never even met Pete." She pondered for a moment. "Actually, I think she was attempting to help us in some way," Sam let her mind wander back to the conversation. With all the excitement and spectacular lights and surroundings, it was hard to piece together everything. Jack saw the look on her face and tried to help her out.

"She said we were wrong. She said we were making a mistake," Jack recalled and felt himself becoming very uncomfortable as he remembered his thoughts and feelings at that particular time. They were not something he wanted Pete to hear about.

"She said we were wrong. She said we were making a mistake." Pete's mind was going into over-drive now., trying to think up possible things that they could have done wrong. His curiosity was burning a hole in Jack's mind as Pete attempted to search through Jack's thoughts.

"Hey! What are you trying to do?" Jack asked as his felt Pete's consciousness crept into his own thoughts.

"I wasn't trying to do anything!" Pete backed up a bit.

"Don't do it again!" Jack said in a panicked voice. It would not be a good thing if they started reading each other's thoughts. They would inevitably end up killing each other.

"What's happening?" Sam asked concern; her blue eyes searched Pete's face for answers.

At that moment Jack felt Pete's emotions surface again. It was a decidedly, disgustingly, gooey and warm feeling. Puppy love. Yuck.

"He's trying to invade my thoughts!" Jack shouted.

"Nothing," Pete said quickly, "he's just complaining."

"Tell her what just happened!" Jack demanded.

"Nothing of importance," Pete reassured Sam.

"We need to get you back to the SGC," Sam said with absolute certainty. "We need to report this to the General Hammond and have Janet take a look at you."

"Not Janet!"/ "Not the doc!" Both of them were thoroughly confused at each other's outburst.

"She likes you really, Pete. You just met her on a bad day," Sam tried to calm him. "And Colonel, she doesn't deliberately choose the largest needles for you."

"No, she doesn't," / "Yes she does!"

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