Quango
Missing scenes and episode tags to "Gemini," "It's good to be king," "Citizen Joe"
Four signs that show it's cool. That Jack got a grip on his feelings. That they are friends. Perhaps even closer than before Carter got engaged, and all was just a tad confusing. Not that he is keeping track.
They eat cake again. Not that he ever stopped, just cake with a nice serving of Carter didn't happen in a long time. Now it has become their routine. Every day, when he's not stuck in boring briefings or meetings or phone calls or other earthly tortures, and she's not off-world having a blast, they eat cake. Sometimes in the commissary, sometimes in his office and if he hasn't seen her all day, he brings a plate to her lab. Since their cake dates have started, Jack more frequently spars with Teal'c. He is just making sure that in the end, he didn't survive getting shot at on missions only to die from a desk job and cake. Once or twice, he wondered how Carter could remorselessly eat all that cake while preparing for a wedding, but then this is one of the things he decided not to think about until the very last moment.
So back to cake.
It all started with Carter having a plan. A very easy to through one.
She stands in his door with a huge slice of chocolate cake, and a smile on her lips gives it all away. Sorry, Carter. They've known each other for seven years now.
"What do you want?" Jack bores into Carter, who fashions an innocent smile as she puts a plate with cake on his desk.
"Nothing," she answers and drops into the chair opposing him.
"I'm not letting you go to Atlantis," he says and pulls the plate closer—just for good measures.
"Can't a Colonel bring her CO a slice of cake when she happens to be in the commissary when the last one is on display?"
Technically there is something slightly off in this rhetorical question, but just as most of the time, Jack decides to not dwell on that. Instead, he takes a bite and looks at her again.
"Over my dead body, Carter."
That's how cake-dates started.
"Argh, crap," Jack says as he steps out of the mountain.
The world is covered in a white blanket of snow. The SGC personnel can hardly keep up with the ever falling white in their attempt to clear the road. Not that someone is going in or out in this weather anyway. They told him there was a blizzard; he just never took weather all that serious. Jack curses himself for coming in on a Sunday in the first place. He should be sitting at home, watching hockey instead of reading reports, but too late for that now. Jack turns around, accepting the fate of an involuntary night covered deeply by snow when something hits him on the shoulder. He swirls around and finds Carter. Her cheeks are rosy from the cold, and her eyes sparkle with special intensity in this snow-white night. She has the wicked grin of an excited a five-year-old on her face, bouncing another snowball in her hand.
"Carter," Jack warns, but he's lost already.
The second ball hits him right at the head, breaking into soft, cold flakes that find their way into his jacket. His eyes shoot around, looking for someone to witness him getting his ass served by his Colonel. But no one near. He's pretty sure Carter checked first. Before he can gather his wits, a third snowball hits him on the chest and declares war. Jack digs his hands into the cold white, forms a ball, and throws it back.
"Throwing snowballs at your commanding officer—the base commander to top that is more than just insubordinate."
She quickly dodges his projectile with a smoothness he has witnessed many times before. In return, he feels another impact on his leg.
"Seems like you lost your aim behind that desk," Carter teases, and that's all Jack needs to stop pretending he's THE man. Snowballs fly at lightspeed, and he completely forgets where he is, who he is, and who he's throwing snowballs at until the doors behind him open, and Colonel Reynolds steps out. Carter freezes and drops the snowball and Jack, well, he's soaked and panting and grinning like either too old or too young. At first, Reynolds looks wary but then smiles knowingly and says, "Looks like you could need some more off-world experience, Sir."
What has he gotten himself into? Not just one but two insubordinate Colonels. He tries to imagine walking in on Hammond and Carter throwing a snowball fight, but it won't come together.
Jack shoots the two Colonels a chilly look, pats off his jacket, and turns around to the elevator.
"I guess we're stuck here tonight. If you don't want me to remember my off-worldskills, may I ask my two highest 'subordinates' to join me for a warming bottle of whiskey in my office?"
"Five wives?" Carter complains as he steps out of the gate.
Jack smiles and shrugs his shoulders.
"It's Maybourne, what can I say?"
He nods at Reynolds, who took over base command for the time SG-1 was gone, then follows Carter down the hallway towards the locker room.
"I'm surprised he even found one that is … into him," she says, and he can hear the tease in her voice.
They walk side by side down the corridors, and for the first time in a very long time, he feels alive. Getting shot at, a very tight rescue, blowing up some Goa'Uld ship is just what he needed. Needless to say that having Carter on his side all day long, makes it even better. Just like the old days.
They catch up with Teal'c and Daniel in front of the locker rooms.
"So, felt good to be back out there again?" Daniel asks.
"We didn't get killed, so there's that," Jack says and pulls his hat from his head to cover the smile which he can't stop from flashing over his lips.
"How about a team night?" Carter says suddenly, and Jack is sure that Daniel and Teal'c are just as surprised as he is. They haven't had a team night ever since, well, he doesn't really want to think about that right now.
"Great idea," Daniel catches on quickly and beams from joy.
"Indeed," Teal'c says with a slight bow, and then all eyes are on Jack.
He can't unstick his eyes from Carter, who looks at him all open and free of guilt and everything else that had been in her eyes a while back. A look he has missed so much. He grins at her, just at her and then says,
"O'Malley's?"
"General," Miss Johnson slips her hand into the elevator door to prevent it from closing. "Would you want to join me for dinner?" The smile that curls her lips tells Jack that this might be more than a work dinner. He's taken aback about how open she is—no shyness whatsoever, instead she adds, "I hate eating alone."
Jack's eyebrows fly up by the possibilities that present themselves in the lousy lightning of the SGC elevator. He's not blind; she is beautiful; it just seems that at some point in the past, he had stopped noticing other women. It's probably the thought 'other women' that makes him say yes, and three hours later is not just dinner anymore, but Kerri's head rests on his chest while her finger swirls his grey hairs.
"This is not going to influence our work relationship, is it?" she murmurs into his flank.
"No," he answers and digs his nose into her hair. She smells soft and warm, and he could get used to it. "But you wouldn't mind keeping it quite? People at the SGC have a habit of gossiping."
Kerri sits up and looks at him, and for an unsettling heartbeat, he thinks he might have just ruined this, but then she smiles seductively.
"So, you want to do this again?"
He almost wants to shake his head because he has forgotten how easy it can be.
"Oh yes," he says after a beat, then leans forward and presses his lips against hers.
Sorry guys :) Reviews keep me writing.