3
He finished up the last of his report, and read through the memos he always pretended he had not received. He answered an Email from Cassie, she wanted to visit at the weekend, of course he agreed. She usually spent her time when not at school with Carter, but he had noticed she often asked to come to his place if she knew the cop was going to be there.
Carter didn't seem to mind, well she had other things on her mind, and he was always glad of the company. Cassie had been in a bit of a state, only to be expected, but was pulling through it, only acting out occasionally, and never with Jack. He had spent several evenings allowing her to cry on him, and a couple making her laugh at all the good times he remembered with her mother, and some of the tricks, and jokes, the team would play on the diminutive medic.
He stood and stretched, GOD he hated paper work, not because he couldn't do it, and not because he wasn't brilliant at putting the actions down on paper, but because he hated the fact that whatever he wrote would be read and judged by people not qualified to lick the dirt on Hammonds boots, and he had to make sure that there was no dirt there for them to find. Never a political animal, mission reports had to be written with politicians in mind, he would rather do a verbal brief and leave it at that, at least then he would know who his audience was.
Cake… he needed cake! He left the small cupboard he laughingly called his office and went to the commissary, he picked up 4 pieces of chocolate cake and a couple of bottles of water, and headed to the infirmary.
Daniel and Teal'c were both there and Carter was laid on her back staring up at the ceiling. He offered the cake around and placed her slice on the over bed tray. She didn't react to his presence. He queried the other two and received a lifted eyebrow and a shrug in return.
'Well, if she is pretending we aren't here' he thought 'see how she likes the feeling' He knew she always got annoyed when they talked over her, hell everyone did. So he cleared his throat and looked at Daniel "So, she said anything?" he asked his tone and volume normal.
Daniel looked at her, laid out, and then back at him, he shrugged… Jack liked how he didn't have to communicate his intentions with his team, they understood what he was doing… "Nope, nothing, we may as well not be here"
"Major Carter has been uncommunicative since you left O'Neill" the Jaffa chipped in, Jack saw her jaw muscle tighten and gave a smirk internally.
"Hmm, Brightman was thinking of sending her to Mackenzie you know" he told the others "two words aren't going to be enough to stop him having a go at shrinking that enormous brain of hers"
"For what purpose would he wish to lessen the size of Major Carters brain?" Teal'c asked, by god that man had a dry sense of humour!
Daniel explained the meaning of the phrase and Jack watched Carter, he could see her lips moving again, he thought he saw numbers forming in the movement, but he was distracted by Dr. Brightman making an appearance.
"Any news Doc?" he asked
"Dr. Mackenzie will be on base tomorrow" she told them all "I've asked him to come have a look at the Major" she wiped her hand across her forehead, Jack noticed the black circles under her eyes.
"Hey doc… when was the last time YOU got any sleep?" he asked her gently
"I'll be OK," she told him, he took her by the arm and steered her towards her office. "there is an iso room next to your office with a couch that pulls out into a single bed" he gave her a slight push, "Use it for a couple of hours, Fraiser always did when someone was injured, and Carter isn't in any danger now" he turned and noticed the blue clear gaze of his 2IC watching the doctor, she frowned at him and turned her gaze back to the ceiling. He grinned, she wasn't as cut off from her surroundings as she wanted them to think she was, the question was WHY?
It was 22:00 he sent both his other team members off to sleep, or meditate, and sat beside her again. He told her about Cassies email and received another tightening of the jaw muscle for it, he watched as she drifted slowly into sleep, real sleep… Carter always denied it, but she snored! A soft, ladylike snore, but a snore none the less. He smiled slightly thinking of all the times he had woken to the sound of her sleeping and the number of times he had dreamed, and daydreamed of feeling the vibration on his chest as she slept cuddled up to him in his bed.
He had to get up and walk around a bit, to rearrange his tackle discreetly; he HAD to stop thinking of her like this! And that damn kiss didn't help! The more he tried to distract himself the harder he got, he let out a groan… he had just to wait until someone else came along to sit with her and he could go deal with his problem… his right hand was getting altogether too much practise, he needed to get laid!
Daniel turned up in the early hours, surprising Jack as he was expecting Teal'c to take over. However he could not stand around too long talking to the younger man, he headed to his quarters and undressed quickly, he found relief in the small bathroom. Then he had a shower, threw his clothes in the hamper and went to sleep, it was less than 8 hours since he woke, but he had no trouble drifting off again.
An alarm blaring through the corridor and the base phone in his room started together and woke him suddenly, it was only 05:00!, ah well 2 hours plus the eight from the day before made a better average than usual, he rolled over and grabbed the receiver.
"Colonel O'Neill, have you seen Major Carter?" Hammonds voice came over the wire. Jack took a second to absorb the question, but only a second. He jumped out of bed and pulled the BDUs he had worn for half a day back out of the hamper as he answered his CO.
"I left her asleep in the infirmary 2 hours ago, sir, Daniel was with her" Where the hell was Daniel, where was SHE and what was she doing walking out of the infirmary.
"Dr. Jackson fell asleep for a few minutes, the Major took the opportunity to leave" Jack heard Walter in the background
"Sir, Major Carter signed out of NORAD 15 minutes ago"
"You hear that Jack?" Jack confirmed he had "she hasn't been discharged, go bring her back", he was already on his way, the only thing stopping him from being at the lifts already was the fact that the phone was wired instead of mobile.
"Yes sir" he said and put the receiver down and headed for the door, he went straight to the locker room and picked up his wallet and keys, not bothering to change into civvies, as he was leaving the other two men entered and Daniel got the same items from his locker that Jack had, Teal'c waited at the door.
They made it to the lifts in less than 5 minutes from Jack being awakened.
"I'm sorry Jack, I only drifted off for a second" Daniel apologised
"She was waiting for it" Jack told him "If not now she would have done this soon, maybe when we were sent away later for her visit to Mackenzie, don't beat yourself up over it"
They exited the checkpoint and caught the jeep to the car park outside the mountain, the driver had been the same one to give Carter a lift to her vehicle, but he said she never spoke to him, which was unusual, she usually at least said thank you for the lift. The men piled out and jumped into Jacks monster and he left the base without slowing at the gate, the guard must have been pre-warned because he didn't try to wave them down.
They made it to Carters home in less than 25 minutes, there was no sign of her. Jack went around the back while Daniel let himself into the house using the keys she had given him years ago.
Jack found her car in the car port at the rear of her property, the engine was still warm, but he thought at least it meant she was close by. Daniel came through the back door and shook his head. Teal'c followed him with some things in his hands… her ID, wallet and car keys, and her cellphone! Carter never went ANYWHERE without her cellphone!
Jack went into the house and did a last number redial on the phone in the living room, the SGC, he went into the kitchen… a Pizza place that was closed until 5pm. He headed to the bedroom, a place he had never been before and paused on the threshold. Did he really want to go in? see the place he had seen so often in his dreams, see how close or far he was to the reality? Carter was in trouble, he HAD to. He walked in and straight to the bedside table, picked the phone up and pressed redial on it. He heard a ringing and Daniel walked into the room.
"Mine" he said
"What's the last number she dialled on the cell?" he asked, Daniel opened it.
"Pete, just before we left for the mission by the looks" So she had not phoned for a taxi, the trail was getting cold.
"O'Neill!" Teal'c shouted, the two men headed towards the sound, the Jaffa was standing in the small cupboard she shoved coats into
"Whatcha got there T?" Jack asked
"Colonel Carters motorcycle helmet is missing from its usual place" he pointed to the gap on the shelf. Jack ran out the back of the house and lifted the tarp, sure enough there was only her pet project under it, the huge Harley she liked to ride was missing.
"Well we know how she left, only question now is… where did she go?"