4.

Daniel groaned as he grabbed his gear out of the back of the jeep he and Teal'c had requisitioned at the Air Force base at Moab. It'd been a long day. It'd been nearly 6 p.m. off world when the recall had come in. So, he'd now been up, counting the trip here and the trek back to the gate, for nearly 24 hours. Ugly.

Gatelag was absolutely the worst.

And besides that, he'd been on vacation, damn it. He'd wanted to see the ruins on P3X787 for at least six months. Even Rothman had seen them, and come back ecstatic.

He'd just finally gotten to have a look – he agreed with Rothman, definitely Mayan in origin, but there were some really interesting anomalies - and if he had just had just been able to spend even a little more time… but he hadn't.

Whatever it was that had made Hammond and Jack recall them had to be important. Apparently, there was some sort of emergency on Earth, for gods sakes. That had to take precedence. Even more telling, no one had said a word about what said emergency was. Jack and Sam were already gone and Hammond was in some sort of meeting when he'd gated back. Harriman had directed him to a copter, where Teal'c was waiting. After what was a just … lovely… flight to Moab, they'd been directed to the jeep with instructions to Bullfrog Marina.

Two hours later he still had no idea what they were doing here. He looked around. Redrock country. The vista went on for miles, red and orange sandstone cliffs thousands of feet high. Aspects of the country reminded him of Abydos, but no, that was wrong. This was high desert. There was nothing like this on Earth, or anywhere else he'd been that was comparable. It was unique.

He shook his head, trying to get out the images of the landscape from his mind. The landscape wasn't important. What was important was getting to where Sam and Jack were and identifying how he could help solve whatever problem was facing them all. On Earth. He felt a chill run back down his spine. Emergencies shouldn't be on Earth. Anywhere else in the universe, yeah. But not here. Not on home ground.

He looked around for evidence of Jack and Sam, and then stared in disbelief as Jack calmly docked a houseboat, and waved them onto it.

He looked at Teal'c, who stared back at him equally confused. Well, as much as Teal'c ever looked anything but stoic, but yes, he could tell. They were both mystified. Daniel shook his head and headed into the boat.

"Jack, what's up – Daniel stopped, stunned, and finally commented - and uh, what is all this?"

He stared at the scene in front of him, sweeping his hand around the room to encompass the state of the cabin, shocked at the amount of food and beer and the huge pile of fishing equipment lying in the middle of the room. "What – uhh.."

He gave it up. It was too impossible to decipher.

It was Jack after all.

Jack just shrugged. "Glad you made it alright. I think Carter's assigned you—he motioned towards Teal'c - to the bedroom on the right after the kitchen. You're on the left of him, Daniel. I think I've got the lower level next to the engines, but I'm not really sure."

Daniel ignored the instructions. He cleared his throat and asked the most pressing question, one nothing he could imagine could explain.

"Why are we on a houseboat?"

He felt justified at his confusion when Teal'c immediately scanned the room in the same way Daniel had, the way the Jaffa had hundreds of times when expecting an enemy. Satisfied that there was nothing of import, Teal'c also stared at Jack.

"I also do not understand, O'Neill. Are we not on a mission?"

Jack shrugged from his new, casual and now carefully relaxed location on the couch, feet up on the coffee table in the middle of the room, and took a sip of beer. Daniel stared at him in shock, wondering if he and Teal'c should call the SGC. Jack never drank on a mission.

This was just too weird.

Jack finally answered Teal'c. "It's a covert mission. No reason not to be comfortable. There's steaks, ribs, potatoes, beer and -"

Daniel broke in, unable to take it in. "You're taking a houseboat on a mission?"

Jack sighed. " A covert mission, Daniel. We have to behave like normal folks. But yeah, Carter was kind of surprised by that too."

Daniel looked around quickly. "Where is Sam?"

"Lower level. She's commandeered one of the bedrooms down there for a command center. I think she's …connecting things and sorting stuff."

"She knows about this and she hasn't killed you yet?"

At that, a slightly sheepish expression crossed Jack's face, only to be quickly stopped. He took another sip of beer.

He finally commented, "She, uh, might have been… a bit", at Daniel's knowing look he hurriedly continued, "you know, just … uhh…slightly…whatever."

He sighed. "Don't worry. She'll get over it."

"Uhuh." Daniel stared him down, exasperated. He flopped down on the couch next to Jack, leaving all of his gear on the floor next to… fishing stuff. Teal'c seemed to be tired as well as he commandeered the chair directly across from the couch, which was pretty amazing. Teal'c was never tired.

Daniel rolled his head back against the headrest of the couch, appreciating the relief of neck pain, and then stated the obvious, too tired to do anything else.

"Has she mentioned you're not taking this mission seriously?"

Jack mumbled into his beer. "Not exactly."

"What has she said?"

Jack grimaced. "I don't think she's talking to me right now." He paused. "I could order her to, but…"

Teal'c broke in. "That would not be wise, O'Neill."

Jack looked up at Teal'c for validation. "See? That's what I thought."

"Indeed. Major Carter is an essential member of SG1. Her participation would be significantly hindered due to the probable courts martial that would result on your world should you order her to voice her opinion of your plan."

Jack stared at the Jaffa, speechless.

Daniel broke in. "I'm with Teal'c on this one. And I'm not surprised she's not talking to you. Nothing new in that for any of us when you decide to go on one of your starts."

"Hey, that is so, so wrong - and it's not my start anyway. It's Carter's."

"Sure it is." Daniel sighed, rubbing his eyes. It was really, really late. And Jack at his best in denial was never easy.

He regrouped. He was never going to get to bed if he didn't. And from the looks of things here, no one was going to die… or… whatever … in the next six hours, except possibly Jack, if Sam ever decided to come out of the lower level. Which all and all seemed like a pretty fair deal.

He needed sleep. He sighed, stared at Jack and summarized. " Okay, just for the record, let's review. You had us recalled many, many, many hours ago to take on a mission and arranged emergency transport to get us here as fast as possible."

He looked around the room, still not quite believing what he was seeing. "And in that many, many, many hours while we were traveling here, instead of recon, you bought groceries, rented a houseboat and went fishing?"

Jack broke in. "That is so not fair. I didn't recall you, Hammond did. And Carter and I needed to do something while we were waiting for you. Besides, we did spend seven hours driving here as well."

Daniel glared a Jack, unable to take in his last comment. Teal'c and he had been on emergency status all day. "You *drove* here with Sam but you had us take emergency transport?"

"I wanted the truck."

Daniel rubbed the bridge of his nose, with his hand, and groaned. "You are so not taking this mission seriously."

"I am too."

"You're not. I know that and I don't even know what it is yet."

" I am."

"Not."

"Am."

"Three words, Jack. Houseboat. Fishing. Beer. I think that covers it all."

"Hey, I didn't charge any of it to the AF if that's what you're worried about. Although I do think half way decent accommodations every now and then is a reasonable thing to expect."

"Not the point, Jack."

Teal'c interrupted, clearly annoyed with both of them. "What is the objective of this assignment, O'Neill? I had hoped to spend more time with Ryac."

Jack looked up, surprised. "Didn't Hammond brief you?"

Daniel answered. "No. He said you and Sam would brief us when we got here. What is this about, anyway? And I agree with Teal'c. It had better be good. The ruins on P3X787 are really amazing."

Jack sighed and took a sip of his beer. " You guys want something to drink?"

"O'Neill. We require information not sustenance."

Daniel grinned. Trust Teal'c to get to the heart of the matter.

He watched with interest as Jack grimaced and gave in. "Carter can give you the details, but it's basically a science project of hers."

Hell. Trust Jack to only sort of give in. "Oh c'mon, Jack, just get to the poi-"

Jack defended himself at what was clearly an unwarranted accusation from his point of view. " I did get to the… I mean I am getting to the point. It's one of Carter's science projects. Hammond thought it was important enough that he recalled both of you and me."

At Daniel's look of annoyance, Jack continued. "I'm serious."

Daniel's irritation deflated and turned into concern. "Okay… so…" He waited for more.

Jack shrugged and took a sip of beer.

"Jack."

"I'm getting to it, Daniel. Give me second here." He put down the beer, rubbed his hands through his hair and regrouped. "Okay, here's the basics. The science geeks at the SGC discovered some new … energy signatures… from two sites on Earth that happened at the exact same time and date. They thought they could be alien in origin. Carter said it's nothing like she's ever seen before anywhere, even - he raised a hand toward the sky - out there. Hammond wanted us to check it out quietly." He sighed. "So, here we are."

Daniel blew out a breath, still annoyed. "Look, if this is just a scientific exploration and Sam has you to watch her back while she works, and you're both here to make a threat assessment, why recall Teal'c and me?" He gestured around the room. "And why all this?"

"Hammond wanted *SG1*, Daniel, not half of it."

"OK, I get that Hammond and you," he looked at Jack pointedly, "recalled us. But it was for a mission, Jack. What the hell is the rest of this?"

Daniel paused, shook his head and looked around again. "Wait a minute. I get it. This is your version of acting out. You're pissed that you were recalled from leave for a science expedition and you're taking it out on Sam."

"No…" Jack's tone was explosive and annoyed. "I really… no, that is not it. And ok, maybe I was annoyed about being recalled, but that's not what this is about. So were you. Didn't I just hear you whine about having to leave P3X whatever?"

Daniel sighed, threw his head back against the sofa cushions and raised his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Alright, maybe you have a point." He looked at Teal'c for validation, grimaced, and then continued. "OK, maybe a good point.

"But ….we didn't deliberately delay a mission start for ten hours and -excuse me- he looked around him again, slightly stunned – rent a houseboat? What's going on?"

" Jeez, Daniel, give it a rest. The ten hours were in the noise, given that Carter and I had to wait for you anyway. So I thought driving the truck out made sense, especially if we do have to head to the second location or split up for any reason." He gestured around the room. "And all of this - well, you want to camp and eat MREs all week when there's another alternative? We did that all last month."

"And?" Daniel waited for the rest Jack wasn't telling him.

Jack finally caved in. "In my opinion, the mission is not urgent, Daniel. Important, but it's not urgent from an initial threat assessment. There's only been one documented occurrence and that was three weeks ago, and nothing since. But Carter thinks it's important and wanted to go, and I thought we should be there as well in case there was something off. "

He looked back at Daniel. " She is almost always right about this stuff." He grimaced. "On the other hand, it is Earth and nothing's happened, so it might just be a real scientific anomaly, which would amuse Carter in any case."

He sighed. "I just thought - well, the last month has been tough on all of us. You had your … whatever out, bugs in a tin can nearly ate Teal'c and me, and Thor evidently fed Carter yellow glop for the whole mission to the Asgard home planet. We all need some downtime. You guys headed out, and I was going to head up to Minnesota, but Carter insisted on checking out the new Asgard tech and hunkering down in the Mountain. With this, I figured she could … investigate …and we, well, I could -"

Teal'c finished. "- slay two foul with one rock."

Jack threw his head back on the sofa cushions. "It's kill two birds with one stone and yes, that was what I was thinking."

Daniel grinned, knowingly. "So you thought Sam needed to take a break and decided to use this expedition as your way to get her to do that and have some downtime toge... uh, forget that part."

Daniel sighed. He must be more tired than he thought. He would never normally confront Jack directly about the growing closeness between Jack and Sam. Not that there was anything specific or obvious that he could point to - just little things, like Jack's current concern about Sam. And he was pretty sure that both Jack and Sam were oblivious anyway. Confronting the man would just raise unnecessary hackles, and Jack and he were grumpy enough. It was weird, though. Teal'c and he were unnecessary for the expedition, they had been happily relaxing already, and this situation would have given Jack a perfect excuse to get to know Sam better, away from the Mountain.

He stared at Jack. "You know, I really don't see why you need us."

Jack defended himself. "I was thinking of you guys too. There are lots of ruins around here for you to play in and Teal'c has been wanting to see more of Earth for a while."

Daniel didn't buy it. "Uhuh. And…"

Jack sighed. "Look, Daniel, even with the orders, if you and Teal'c weren't here, there'd be talk about the houseboat. This way… well, there'll be talk about it anyway, just not…you know."

Huh. That was interesting. Maybe Jack was less oblivious than he thought. Or maybe it was just concern for Sam's reputation that was driving the man.

Jack waited as the silence settled around them and finally gave ground when he and Teal'c continued to regard the man seriously. " We do need to check out Carter's emissions. If there's nothing of value at the site she's identified after we look into it tomorrow, I'll ask Hammond to recall all of us."

He glanced at Daniel. "You can go back to your rocks on whatever." He opened his eyes to stare at Teal'c in the chair across from him. "And you can go back to Chulak."

Teal'c stared back at Jack, tilting his head in acknowledgement of the conversation. "That will not be necessary, O'Neill. If Major Carter wishes to explore this area, I will be honored to join her."

"Thanks, Teal'c." Jack looked carefully at Daniel. "I bought coffee, Daniel. There's even a grinder in the kitchen."

Daniel leaned his head back against the couch, rubbed his eyes and admitted defeat. He sighed. "You know, I've never had time to actually explore out here, even though this area houses some of the most ancient archaeological ruins in North America. The Anasazi were here for nearly 1000 years and then -"

Jack interrupted. "Ack. Does that mean you're on board?"

Daniel grinned. "I think I was already onboard. It is a houseboat."

"Funny." Jack sighed and put his head back on the couch, almost replicating Daniel's posture. He took another sip of his beer as silence began to settle. "I'm happy to know that we never had this conversation."

Daniel answered. "Me too."

Teal'c responded. "As am I."

Jack opened one eye. "Just to be clear. Carter never hears about this."

Teal'c broke in, staring at the door. "O'Neill…"

Jack looked up, horrified, and then stood up, nearly spilling his beer. "Uh, Carter. Nice to see you've decided to join the living rather than the doohickeys. I was just updating Daniel and Teal'c on the plans."

Daniel noted that she smiled at Teal'c and him, ignoring Jack. Not good.

"I'm glad you're here. I can use the help."

Jack stared at her, exasperated. "You've been down in that dungeon of a command room you've set up for nearly three hours and now you decide to show up? How long have you been listening?"

She shrugged and finally looked at Jack. "Heard pretty much all of it, sir, since Teal'c and Daniel came onboard."

"Ah. " Jack looked totally flummoxed.

Daniel started to grin and then stopped immediately when he saw Sam glance his way. He felt some sympathy for Jack; even though the man was certifiable sometimes (house boats came immediately to mind), he had meant well, although admittedly walking a pretty fine line. Jack could order her on a mission, but he couldn't regulate her down time. This had been both, and from Jack's expression, he could tell the man knew he was on the edge. Daniel sighed. It was so damned annoying. Any minute now Jack was going to revert to the Colonel, Sam to the Major, and the whole situation would get … testy.

He broke in, trying to inject some humor into the situation. "At least she's talking to you, although your plan's probably shot to hell."

Jack grimaced, not amused. "She my subordinate. She has to talk to me. "

The glare Sam sent both of them shut them both up, even Jack. Daniel was impressed. Even six months ago, Sam would never have sent a look like that in Jack's direction. Of course, she was going to freak out any minute now, once she realized she'd just reamed out her CO, even if it was non-verbally. And Jack was looking pretty stunned himself, almost as if he couldn't believe that she'd … sort of… yelled at him. Daniel sighed. He waited for the inevitable cold professionalism to kick in, and then watched with surprise as something indefinable passed between Jack and Sam.

He was even more impressed when Sam finally turned away from Jack, shook her head as if to clear it and commented mildly, "Even though I don't think any of you understand the importance of this expedition, I do appreciate what you're doing. Thank you."

Jack stared at her in shock. Daniel just grinned. It was Teal'c who broke the silence. "You are most welcome, Major Carter."

She smiled back at him and then cocked her head at Jack. "Sir, do you think we could move the boat out towards Davis Gulch now?"

Jack was still shocked, but rallied quickly, clearly relieved. "Uh… sure."

"And didn't you get some steaks?"

Daniel grinned at her. He got up and started rummaging through the houseboat's refrigerator. "There are steaks? I've been living on crappy rations for what seems like a year."

Jack responded annoyed. "That's what I said. And yes, you have been, actually we all have been, living on them for over a month. And of course there are steaks. I told you. Many, many steaks. And there's a grill on the upper deck of the boat. There are potatoes and -"

"Cool." Daniel interrupted and continued rummaging in the fridge, ignoring Jack, but turned and smiled at Sam as she moved towards him.

"So, Sam, Jack hasn't been very clear about what you've found. Tell me about it." She grabbed staples from his hands and started outlining her findings as they began preparing a very late dinner.

Daniel watched out of the corner of his eye as Jack shook his head at the sight of them preparing dinner and finally rambled away to start up the engines and undock from the marina, Teal'c in tow.

"O'Neill."

"Yeah, Teal'c?"

"I am unfamiliar with this mode of transport. There are no bodies of fresh water of this magnitude on Chulak."

"Ah. Well, it's great, T. You'll love it. This is not just any houseboat. This is a Discovery XL Platinum houseboat. All the whistles and bells. 59 footer; four cabins, two baths, upper and lower level deck control operations, full kitchen, grill, and -"

"O'Neill."

"Yeah?"

" Whistles and bells are irrelevant. How does one operate this vehicle?"

"Ah. Well, ok. First, it's a boat, T. Not a vehicle. Different-"

"The nomenclature is also not relevant, O'Neill. How does it function?"

"Ok. Got it. Let me show you how she cruises."

Daniel grinned to himself. Trust Teal'c to get Jack back on track.