6.

A/N. While this is a WIP, 20 chapters are nearly done and the remainder plotted. I'm revising some, depending on comments (thank you!), so some chapters will be posted more slowly than others. Thanks to Hedwig for helping me clarify this chapter through a comment. And thanks always to Nicimac, for her terrific beta-ing! Oh, for adventure folks, the action starts in chapter 8, so not too far away.

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Jack stared from the top deck of the houseboat at the early morning sky, what there was of it, and shook off the rain pouring down on him. So much for hopes of taking a break.

It had started out OK. After T and Daniel had gotten over their trip, and Carter had agreed to a détente, the last evening had been exceptional. They'd docked the boat for the night about an hour out of Bullfrog and had eaten an excellent dinner on the upper deck of the houseboat with stunning starlight and moonlight that only such an isolated spot as Powell could provide as company. And the conversation had been comforting for a change. Even Carter had backed off on the mission objective, relaxing.

But last night's terrific weather was a far cry from what he was looking at now. The morning was dark grey; rain already streaking the lake, with promises of a torrential storm on the horizon, given the black thunderheads headed their way. He could barely see Navajo Mountain although its shadow lay across the water, a black impenetrable wave. He glared at the cliffs on either side of the boat. It felt like the canyon walls were closing in on them, unassailable and immovable.

And he was getting way too grim, even for him, which was saying a lot; even though it was just in his head and he hadn't said anything to anybody.

Ah jeez. He still needed to deal with Carter.

The whole situation with Carter was unnerving him. He was so out of his element. He had no business suggesting anything related to a break. He wouldn't have dreamed of even suggesting it if Kawalsky had been his second. And he certainly wouldn't have cared if Kawalsky decided to work during downtime, unless it was going to cause undue stress for the team later. And in this case, it wouldn't have. Carter loved working in her lab. No, if it had been Kawalsky, what he would have done, and what he should have done with Carter once they'd been assigned the mission, was complain about his leave being cancelled, had them take emergency transport to the site, and left the rest of it alone.

He still would have made sure that they took the houseboat and provisions whether his second was Carter or Kawalsky.

He knew this country. It was wild, desolate and dangerous. He'd done a lot of survival training in southwest canyon country before heading to the Middle East. The houseboat and the choice he'd made about which site to visit first had been calculated and planned. It was safe transport in desolate country.

He hadn't been blowing off the mission, which Carter, Daniel and even Teal'c seemed to think he had.

Sure, he'd hoped to add something on to that with her, but he hadn't explained his reasoning for why the houseboat was actually necessary. And he hadn't explained why they needed to do something while they waited for Daniel and Teal'c.

Missions on Earth were a pain. The whole situation wouldn't even have come up if they were scheduled offworld. Normally, she headed back to her lab, and he would have ...done stuff, waiting, until Daniel and Teal'c gated back and then they'd all gate out again.

But this was a mission on Earth. They had to travel to get to the location, and he'd just thought of the most amusing way they could do that while they were waiting. He'd wanted to spend some time relaxing with her along while they waited.

No wonder she had been pissed at him; he was totally out of line. And that was another thing. He was the CO. It didn't matter if he was out of line or not, he shouldn't really care if he had a pissed off subordinate… for example, if Kawalsky had been pissed at him, he would have told him to shut up and put him on report, or threatened to, anyway. Kalwalksy would have understood.

But Carter… Carter had been literally on the verge, if not over the edge, of insubordination. As her CO, he should have noted that she was developing independence and then shut her down immediately when she went over the line.

He hadn't.

All he'd seemed to care about last night was that he upset her. A part of him even kind of liked that she felt comfortable enough around him to disagree or get irritated at some of his starts. As a man - ah jeez.

Whatever it was, it couldn't be … that.

He was completely out of his mind. It really couldn't be… that. He shook his head and rubbed the rain out of his hair, trying to clear his mind. The problem was that this was not a normal team. He had Daniel on it, for crying out loud, and Daniel nearly always ignored him, but the man was brilliant and came through when it mattered. Teal'c understood military structure, but he wasn't from Earth; things didn't always translate and he had intel that they desperately needed to make decisions. And Carter was a scientist; sure, Air Force, but a brilliant scientist and turning into a great second. He trusted her implicitly to give him the data he needed to make the right decision.

He trusted them all to provide the intel for him to make decisions. But, in order for them to do that, he had to listen, had to give ground, a lot. He'd done it in the past with other teams some, sure. But this was on the edge. And that wasn't normal AF MO. So, he was possibly, probably giving ground more than he usually would.

And he really couldn't treat Carter any differently than Daniel or Teal'c just because she was AF. It would cause undue stress in an already unusual situation. So, he was giving ground where he never would have before.

That's all it was. He'd pulled this team together, agreed to the structure, and now was just adjusting. He was treating Carter like another member of this… very… weird…team. Or was trying to. That's all that was going on.

Yeah, right. He was going to have to do better. Carter was military; she'd understand if he treated her differently than Daniel or Teal'c. For that matter, he should be treating her differently. He was her CO and he'd let things slide, using the team make-up as an excuse to explore a more relaxed relationship. It had to stop.

As the wind picked up, he zipped up his windbreaker with some force. "It's desert, for crying out loud. There should be blue skies and lots of sun."

"That's not strictly true, sir. It's high desert here. It's been documented to reach 30 below in the winter and 110 above in the summer; very rugged country."

He turned around, surprised. He hadn't known she was there or that anyone could have heard him. He hadn't been paying attention and the wind was enough to mask any noises on the deck announcing her arrival. He shook his head; he needed to pay more attention. Even on what was clear was … or wasn't… a break.

Carter gently pulled him back from the portion of the top deck of the boat that was uncovered and into the shelter of the awning.

"The weather variation is why your friend Tom wants to dry dock the boat next week."

Jack cocked his head. "Listening even then, were you."

She shrugged.

He grimaced, not really amused. "I'm aware of the weather variation out here, Carter. I was stationed at White Sands for a year." He knew she'd understand the implications; that White Sands was a highly classified missile base in the southwest.

She looked surprised. "Really? It's not in your…" She stopped suddenly.

He stared at her ironically." -classified file?"

"Uhh…"

"Don't bother, Carter."

She looked out at the canyon walls, away from him.

Ah, man. He really was an ass. She'd done exactly what he would have done to check out a new command – and he was calling her on it, three years after the fact, just because he was out of … whatever.

He needed to fix it. "If you hadn't checked I would never have kept you on the team."

She stared at him, shocked. "I – what?"

"New command. End of world type stuff. An unknown CO. You have unsurpassed computer skills and you're a brilliant scientist. Doesn't take a rocket scientist, even though you are one, to scope out the situation. Of course you checked, although no one else has ever found any hacking into my files. The rest of the AF isn't as good as you are."

She stared at him, saying nothing.

He gave her a bone. "It's what I would have done in your position. Not the same way, of course. I would have made some phone calls. But if you hadn't -"

"I really wouldn't have been on the team?"

"That about sums it up."

She shook her head, trying to clear it. "I should have known that -"

"Yes, you should have." He changed the subject. It was ancient history anyway. "Why are you out here, Carter?" He waited, wondering what it was that had brought her out into the cold of the morning. She probably just wanted to get moving to Davis Gulch.

Instead, she surprised him. She swallowed. "I wanted to apologize."

He was honestly confused. "For what?"

"I – uhh… well, yesterday, I might have been a bit -" she paused looking for a word.

"—snippy?"

She grimaced. "I wouldn't call it that exactly."

He looked away, wanting to avoid the conversation. She had a point. He'd been … difficult as well. Out of line. She'd already turned him down once concerning fishing. He should never have brought it up again.

"Let's just forget it, Carter. It's not the first time I've had a second get … snippy… on me. Kawalsky used to do it all the time."

And that was true, once he thought about it. Kalwaksy had been snippy with great regularity. He just hadn't cared, as the man had always followed through, regardless. Just like Carter. Only with her, he had cared. He stopped that thought in its tracks.

He tried joking. "Just don't make a habit of it. Your next CO might not be so tolerant."

"My next CO?"

Something in her tone made him look up, concerned.

"I know we're scheduled for review, but I thought…." She stopped, thinking. "Am I being reassigned?"

Ah jeez. It was happening again, this sudden and crazed need for him to explain.

"I – no, no you're not, at least not that I know. That's not what I meant. I just – look, Carter, it's just that this … isn't a normal team." He grimaced. "Not that any team with Daniel on it would stand half a chance of being normal." He stopped, thinking. He needed to apologize as well. "I just... well, I haven't exactly been running things by the book. This trip, for example -"

"—is great. I wanted to thank you for that, for all of this." She gestured back towards the inside of the boat with Teal'c and Daniel inside and then out towards the lake.

She must have seen his surprise in his expression because she clarified. "I'm still not sure how seriously you're viewing this mission, but I do understand your reasons for thinking there's a minimal threat assessment. A day's delay didn't matter."

She looked away, at the cliffs around them. "Anyway, I thought about what you said last night to Daniel and Teal'c. I misunderstood until then. And I can be -"

"- obsessive?"

She cocked her head at him. "I was going to say professionally focused."

"Ah."

She seemed determined to finish. "Anyway, I didn't realize… I mean, well, no one's ever… well, it was a really thoughtful gesture, to plan a break for me. Thank you."

He ran his hand through his hair, looking out at the high winds forming waves nearly two feet off the lake and the wild sky ahead of them. "Well, sure, this is terrific; black clouds, rain, no cover and hundreds of miles of isolation. For what it's worth, you're welcome."

She stared him down, her eyes serious. "It's worth it."

He didn't know what to make of it. In fact, he couldn't seem to look away, staring into her expression. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had thanked him for anything. He certainly didn't deserve any thanks after the way he'd lived. Even Daniel just generally grumped at him. And he certainly didn't serve a 'thanks' from Carter. What had he done except set up what he had hoped would be a break for her and a fishing trip? Certainly nothing to merit her regard.

Somehow, the only thing he could register is that she had left off the "sirs" during the entire conversation and that for him that was the best of the conversation. And then he noticed she was standing in the freezing cold without a windbreaker, waiting for him to respond.

Just waiting.

He couldn't think of a thing to say. Or, truth was, he could think of too damned many that he couldn't say. And that was a problem he was just not going to let be a problem. He couldn't.

But he could give her a better explanation of his reasoning, CO and regs be damned. Justifying his decisions may not be by the book, but it wasn't exactly out of bounds, either. "I wasn't blowing off the mission, Sam, although I had hoped to take a break. The houseboat is the safest transport to the site. I know this country and storms like this," he gestured around him, "can come out of nowhere. Bivouacking would be my last choice, not my first for safety. And given that there was no immediate threat, but a possible threat, it was better to wait for Daniel and Teal'c. A four person team is safer than two."

She swallowed. "Thank you for explaining."

And there it was once again, that Carter look that was mesmerizing, that he never understood.

She finally broke the glance. He watched as she looked away out at the Lake and gestured toward the oncoming storm.

"We should get back in, sir."

He sighed. Yeah, the "sirs" were back. He knew it was for the best. He needed, they both needed to get things back on track.

"Yeah. Daniel is probably outlining navigation routes by now. And that's clearly a recipe for disaster considering there are ruins around here."

He gestured her back into the cabin as they both came in from the cold, and, trying to lighten the conversation commented, "I know it's October, but it's also Indian summer. This weather sucks."

She grinned, following his lead. "Yep, I think that is the technical term, sir."

Teal'c looked up from the control panel of the boat. "What is an Indian summer, O'Neill?"

Jack answered automatically. He was getting used to translating for Teal'c, even though that strictly should be Daniel's job. For some reason it had turned into his. "It's a short time when the weather's good after the first frost and before winter sets in. I - never mind. It doesn't matter." He sighed. "Fishing's out with what looks like hell headed toward us, so we might as well get to Carter's site in Demon Gulch and get on with it."

"Davis Gulch, sir."

Jack stared at her ironically. "Yeah, that. Let's head out." He started to head to the houseboat controls but Teal'c stopped him with the raise of an eyebrow, refusing to move from the seat.

"I will operate this vessel, O'Neill. You will raise anchor and then navigate upon your return."

"It's piloting; you're piloting the boat."

"As you wish. However, the anchors that secure us to land need removal prior to our departure. "

"Yeah, I thought we could all-"

Teal'c simply raised an eyebrow. Daniel and Carter looked suspiciously clueless. He sighed. It was pouring buckets by now. He was going to be seriously soaked by the time he got back.

He glared at Teal'c, who was paying no attention to him anyway. "Yeah, okay, fine." Jack headed out into the weather to detach the anchors they'd left in the beach as further support and then raise boat's main anchor.

He was soaked by the time he returned. He stared at the scene in front of him. Teal'c was at the boat's indoor lower control station examining the displays and Carter and Daniel were sitting at a table across from Teal'c, pouring over some kind of map, drinking coffee and eating donuts, for gods sakes. Had he really bought donuts? He thought back. Yeah, he had.

They all looked at him, startled, when he reappeared. Carter broke the silence. "Sir, you're dripping all over the -."

Jack shook his head, spewing water droplets all over the room. He stared at Teal'c ironically. "Nice payback, T."

The Jaffa almost grinned. "Indeed."

Jack groaned and gave it up. "Anchors are up. I'm going to take a nice hot shower. For a long time. Long time. Don't expect hot water for hours." He pointed to Carter. "And navigation's on you until I return, Major. Daniel will just find some ruins."

"Hey…not fair. You said I could look at ruins."

Jack ignored him.

Sam grinned. "Of course, sir."

Yeah, this day was just not getting any better. Still, he grinned as he hit the shower. They may not be normal, but damn it, it was his team and he'd defy anyone to tell him to act differently. Whatever it was, they were, was working, at least for now.