8
She walked into the bar, the music was too loud, the floor was crowded with people dancing, she made her way to the only empty bar stool and sat down, she attracted the man behind the bar and ordered a drink. She was just paying for it when she felt someone press against her back.
"You are in my seat" he said, she turned and looked at him, he was tall, not too thin, but not bulky, he had brown short hair and brown eyes, she smiled at him, oh yeah now THIS is what she was talking about!
"I'm sorry" she purred "I didn't realise it was taken" she saw his glance switch to her exposed cleavage, oh yeah!
"Can I offer you a drink?" he asked, she raised her still full glass.
"You can offer me a dance though" she told him leaning into him, he wrapped an arm around her waist. She got off the stool and they went to the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself into him, he smelt good, though he was a bit heavy handed with the aftershave.
He put a hand at the bottom of her back and pulled her towards him, she felt the unmistakable bulge in his trousers as she swayed against him.
He invited her back to his place after a couple of dances and she remembered getting into his car…
The next thing she knew she woke in a bed, it must have been the next morning or even afternoon, she thought, her head hurt, it felt like someone was trying to drill into her skull through each eye. She felt sick, and when she tried to raise her head off the bed she couldn't help giving out a groan.
She managed to make out a bathroom through an open door at the bottom of the bed and made a run for it. She decided she should stop throwing up when she thought she saw her toenails appear. She got up and rinsed her mouth, she found some toothpaste and squeezed some onto her finger. She brushed her teeth as best she could… and suddenly she remembered. OH GOD what had she done? She hoped she could get out of there without meeting the man she went home with.
She made her way back into the bedroom, there was a set of patio doors, she tried them but they were locked. She picked her dress up off the chair by the bed where it had been placed carefully by the looks and found her shoes just underneath it and as quick as she could she got dressed.
She knew something didn't add up, but couldn't think what. Every movement made her head throb. She opened the other door to the bedroom and as quietly as she could she made her way down the passage to the front door. She got a feeling of Déjà vu as she reached the door, as if she had seen this exact scene before, in fact it felt so familiar she looked around once more… He was stood leaning against the wall watching her, she groaned and rested her forehead against the door.
"Coffee Carter?" he asked, she nodded. She had worked out what was wrong, she still had her underclothes on when she woke and she didn't smell of sex!
She followed him into the kitchen, she sat at the breakfast bar as he poured her a black coffee, she accepted it and waited… she knew a lecture was coming, she just hoped she could bear his disappointment. She wished she didn't feel as though she was 15 again and had been caught breaking curfew.
"What the hell were you thinking? Did it ever occur to you that you were too drunk to look after yourself? That it is dangerous to pick men up, especially when you are so drunk you pass out in their car."
Oh shit! Is that what happened? How did she end up here then? She looked at the mug of coffee and swore at herself.
"You should think yourself lucky I saw him trying to get you out of the car again" she closed her eyes. God she would almost rather have her father lecturing her, at least she was used to letting him down.
Her head throbbed, she found a bottle of aspirin being thrust into her line of sight and gratefully shook a handful out, he stopped her as she was about to put them in her mouth and removed all but three. She swallowed them.
He gave her a bottle of water, she lay her head on the cool counter.
"Carter!" she jumped and almost fell off the stool. He did that on a purpose, her head was splitting, "drink something" he told her, and she opened the water and drank it all, followed by half the coffee.
"Call me a cab?" she asked
"You're a cab!" he said… ha ha she was so NOT in the mood, she got off the stool, unsteadily and realised she didn't have her bag.
"My bag? My phone?" she asked trying to look around, but she was making herself nauseous.
"Both safe in the living room… come on lets get you back to bed for now" she snorted, he pushed her down the passage to his bedroom and once there he efficiently stripped her of her dress and shoes and lay her on the bed. He was just covering her up when she threw both arms around him
"Stay" she said
"Carter" he growled
"We don't have to do anything, just stay…please?" How pathetic could she get? But he slipped off his shirt and shoes and lay on the bed in his vest and shorts. He lay above the covers she was under, but he pulled her until she was cuddled up to his side and he put his left arm around her. She lay her head on his chest and went back to sleep.
When she awoke again she was alone, her mouth tasted like something had died in it and her headache was still throbbing, though not as bad as before. She noticed there were a couple of bottles of water on the bedside table, she made her way into the bathroom again and this time managed to wash her face as well as brush her teeth.
She remembered this feeling, god it had been almost 10 years since she had felt this bad, at least the alien hooch on P3X-595 had made her be stupid without this afterwards!
How was she going to live this down? She had acted like a spoiled child, acting out when she had an argument with her brother. And then she had been REALLY stupid.
She remembered throwing herself at him and how upset she had been when she realised he was not going to take advantage of her, at least she supposed he now knew just how pathetic she really was, she had killed any chance she had of attracting him.
A soft knock sounded on the bedroom door, she got back into the bed and pulled the sheet up… like he hadn't seen it all before several times, she thought… and shouted for whoever it was to come in.
He entered with a tray. "Hey" he said, placing the tray on her lap, there was a bowl of soup and some toast, some orange juice and a bread roll. "How you feeling now?"
"Honestly?" she asked, he nodded "like I could die with embarrassment, thanks for rescuing me" she said.
He chuckled, "Glad to be of service, now I suggest you eat up, I went around to your house and picked you some jeans and a top out, your dad will be here in an hour"…oh god… she felt sick again. "Don't worry, he doesn't know, he just thinks we are having a team night and he's coming before heading back to… wherever. We need to go get your car" she wasn't even sure where she had left it!
"Danny and T will be here soon, hopefully before your dad, we had arranged it on Friday, so I thought it was a good enough reason for you to be here and I didn't cancel."
She nodded, she had eaten the toast, but the soup was asking too much, he gave her some more aspirin and lifted the juice. She still had not looked him in the eye, she was terrified at what she may see there.
He lifted the tray and left the room, indicating a bag on the chair as he went. She got out of bed and opened it. There was a full change of clothes, her make-up bag that she had left on the bathroom unit and her bag with her keys and purse and phone in.
She went into the bathroom and took a long hot shower, by the time she finished it was too late to go for her car, and she thanked god her hair was so short, at least it would dry before everyone turned up.
She had only just made her way into the living room when she heard the doorbell… so much for having time for her hair to dry, He answered the door and Daniel and Teal'c entered the room, Daniel took one look at her and turned to his friend
"Jack?"
"Daniel?"
"Jack!"
She stopped them before they went any further "Daniel stop… whatever you are thinking, I can guarantee you are wrong"
"You said you would take her home, I thought you meant HER home!"