Chapter Thirteen

A half hour later, Sam tagged along happily with her team as they were summoned to the conference room. There was another SG team already there with Hammond. SG-1 took places at the table. No one else noticed Sam's presence. SG-4 looked uncomfortable and sad and slightly guilty. General Hammond looked depressed. Sam wondered if it was because Daniel and Walter's scans hadn't turned up any evidence of drug use and he thought he had to face the fact that they were simply insane.

Not one to ever hold his tongue, Jack looked around the room with a smile that even the gloomy atmosphere couldn't erase. "Why so glum? Who died?"

Hammond looked horrified. SG-4 exchanged worried glances. Daniel started to snicker. Jack, who hadn't caught on, felt Sam kick him.

"Oh, I mean besides her." He gestured vaguely in the direction of Sam's chair, the chair that appeared empty to five of the people in the room. Her death didn't seem nearly as upsetting to him anymore, not since it had become obvious that she wasn't gone.

Unfortunately, SG-4 and Hammond continued to stare, unsure of what to make of Jack's sudden and nonchalant dismissal of Sam's death.

Jack realized he'd said something stupid, but in typical Jack style, he thought that saying something more stupid would fix it, or at least make the first comment not seem so stupid in comparison. "I mean, that's been three weeks now. I'm ok. Daniel's ok. Teal'c's ok. We're ok." He paused to process the stares of the others. "Are you ok, sir?"

General Hammond nodded. "I'm more worried about you, son."

"I'm fine, sir." He looked at Sam. "I just said that, didn't I?" Sam nodded. Jack turned back to the general. "Yeah, I'm good, actually."

"I'd like you to report to the infirmary as soon as we're done here and have yourself thoroughly examined."

"Is that really necessary, sir?"

"I believe so.

"She's dead, sir. I know. There's nothing I can do about it. So we're moving forward, right?" As he spoke, he looked back at Sam who smiled encouragingly at the moving forward part. He smiled back, a perfectly goofy 'I'm hopelessly in love' sort of smile that alarmed the same five people who thought the chair was empty.

"Colonel, you're talking to an empty chair. I think a medical evaluation is called for."

"That chair is-" Jack caught the almost imperceptible way Daniel shook his head. He glanced at Teal'c who uncharacteristically mimicked Daniel's action. Jack smiled. "Completely empty." Sam kicked him again, much harder. "Ow! Be nice or you'll have to stay with someone else tonight!"

Sam giggled. "You wouldn't punish yourself like that." To illustrate her point, Sam reached over and let her hand land on his thigh.

"Colonel O'Neill, I'd like you to seek a psychiatric evaluation as well. Might as well get the whole picture, right?"

Daniel joined Sam in laughing at Jack's misfortune. He'd already had to endure the full work-up.

Teal'c appeared annoyed with the situation, which his teammates knew was because he didn't like denying that Sam was there, but that he wasn't about to make himself look nuts. "General Hammond, why have we been summoned here?" He was probably fearing, rightfully so, that he'd be undergoing a medical evaluation too if he didn't get away from people who couldn't see Sam.

"On their last mission, SG-4 encountered some unfamiliar devices. Captain Stevens repots that some old writings on the planet indicate the devices having some sort of magical powers."

Sam leaned forward, eagerly anticipating the punch line. "So it's possible new technology I can play with, right?" The guys watched Sam, each one smiling the slightest bit that she was really still the same old Sam.

General Hammond continued without having heard Sam's comment. "Since there is some evidence that we are possibly dealing with a new power source or weapon, I would like to send someone to investigate it."

Jack smiled, realizing that three weeks of doing nothing was kind of boring when one wasn't passive-aggressively suicidal. "That's where we come in, right?"

"Provided you are cleared medically and sober, Colonel, you will escort Dr. Felger to the planet."

"What?" Sam jumped up from her chair, sending it rolling along the floor. "What about me? Why don't I get to work on it?" She poked Jack in the side. "Say something!"

Jack shifted in his chair to avoid the sharp nail attached to Sam's finger. "Felger, sir?"

"At this time, he is the best we have, Colonel."

"But-"

"Major Carter seemed to think he had some potential."

"I was just being nice! He's a bumbling idiot!" She reached over and yanked a piece of Jack's hair.

"Ow! Damn it, that hurt!"

"I never liked the way he looked at me."

Jack swallowed hard. He'd never liked the way Felger had looked at Sam either, but he hadn't felt like it would be appropriate to mention it. "Sir, why don't you let us take a look at it by ourselves? Maybe we can figure it out."

Hammond stared at him blankly. "You don't have a scientist on your team."

"Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I'm not a scientist!" Sam stomped over to her chair and kicked it, sending it flying across the room. Five pairs of eyes watched it. Five brains compulsively ignored it.

"Daniel's a scientist, sir." Jack was grasping at straws. He really wanted to appease Carter because he didn't relish the idea of watching her throw a tantrum like the one he'd been present for, although unaware of, in the mess. But he really didn't want to spend the rest of his days in a padded cell either.

"Colonel, I'm still toying with the idea of reassigning Teal'c and Dr. Jackson to other teams and strongly suggesting that you retire."

Jack's eyes widened. Daniel's mouth dropped open. Teal'c's eyebrow rose. Sam plopped unceremoniously into the chair she had been abusing. All four of them spoke in unison. "What?"

"Your team was very much like a family, Colonel, and unfortunately, I fear the loss of Major Carter has had some dramatic effects on your mental health. I'm not convinced that you're all as ok as you say."

Jack pouted. "So I was upset. Carter died and I thought it was my fault so I drank myself into a stupor. But, sir, I swear, I'm ok now. I'm sober. I understand now that it wasn't my fault that her plane crashed. I'm actually ok with the way things are at the moment."

General Hammond dismissed SG-4 and they quietly left the room. "Jack, the love of your life died tragically three weeks ago. You shouldn't be fine."

Sam giggled and wheeled herself in her chair back to Jack's side. "Am I really the love of your life?" In all their fooling around, they hadn't yet managed to say the words to each other.

Now, granted, with the considerably smaller number of people in the room, it was considerably harder for General Hammond to ignore the self-propelled chair, yet he was a determined man and managed to do just that.

"Sir, I need you to see things from my perspective. I think Carter is still with us, in some form." His voice rose to a squeak as Sam's hand landed in his lap again.

She giggled from his reaction. "I could have so much fun with this."

"Sir, I need you to bear with me and not call for security."

Hammond's eyes immediately darted to the phone on the other side of the room.

"Do you trust me, sir?"

Hammond swallowed hard. "I did until you asked me that, Colonel."

"Do you trust Carter?"

Hammond's eyes squeezed closed and the color drained from his face. "Major Carter has passed away, Jack. But yes, I did trust her."

Jack smiled. "When did the laws of physics that limit the rest of us ever get in her way?"

"Where are you going with this?" Hammond was still looking nervous, especially because of the silent, resigned manners of Teal'c and Daniel.

"She's still here, sir."

"Major Carter is here?" Hammond glanced around, but his disbelieving eyes saw nothing.

"Yup." He nodded and let the grin take over. He finally realized why Sam was always in a good mood - it was fun to know more than other people. He turned to Sam. "Do something." With a huge grin, she leaned over and kissed him square on the mouth. After a moment, Jack pulled back and shook his head to clear it. "Something besides that."

Hammond, who'd already been thinking about the phone, started to inch his chair toward it.

"Go unplug the phone so the general can't have me hauled off by security."

Sam sighed. "You're not my CO anymore, you know. You can't order me around."

"Carter, will you please get the phone before he does?"

Sam obediently materialized directly between the phone and Hammond's outstretched hand, snatching the phone from the cradle and pulling the wire from it. She took advantage of the general's confusion by spinning his chair around and pushing him back to his spot at the table. His eyes were wide as saucers. He looked at Daniel, who shrugged, and then at Teal'c, who stared straight ahead without comment.

"What the hell was that?"

"That, sir, was Carter." Jack smiled. "Give me the phone." Slightly annoyed that he was still ordering her around, Sam hurled it at him. Jack ducked just in time for the phone to sail over his head and impact with the wall. "I'm sorry. Did I forget to say please?"

Daniel smiled. "Just don't ask her to sing."

"Sir, you're not in any danger." Jack grinned at Sam.

"Unless you ask her to sing." Sam sincerely wished she had something to launch at Daniel for his comment, but she had nothing.

Luckily, Jack recognized the angry look in her eyes. "Unless you piss her off." His eyes darted between Daniel and Hammond. "It is Carter, sir."

Hammond looked around. "Dr. Jackson, is this what you were experiencing yesterday?"

Daniel shrugged. "Actually, I could see her and hear her, which is what made it particularly upsetting."

"You can see her?"

Two heads nodded emphatically. The third reluctantly nodded only once.

Sam picked up the pitcher of coffee and poured a cup for Jack, Daniel, and herself. She approached Hammond with it. "Would you like some, sir?" Forcibly retired or not, she couldn't bring herself to call him George.

Hammond watched the pitcher uneasily. "Colonel, is that pitcher levitating?"

Sam and Daniel started to laugh. Jack gave Sam his patented 'I'm terribly jealous but I can't say anything look.' "You had better not convince him the way you convinced me." Sam kept laughing.

Daniel looked sick. "Sam, I will be very upset if you wind up in the general's lap."

Ignoring Daniel's comment, she glared at Jack. "Does he want coffee or not?"

Jack smiled at his CO, who was still quite nervous about the pitcher. "Coffee, sir?"

Hammond looked up, approximating where her face would be and nodded. Sam decided his terrified stare at her left shoulder was close enough. She poured him some coffee and then sat back down.

"So, are you convinced?" Sam watched Hammond carefully for any sign that he heard her. His eyes didn't waver from his study of the coffee he was quite definitely not interested in drinking. She turned to Jack. "Got any other ideas? Because I'm absolutely not going to kiss him."

Jack was offended. "I was not about to suggest that you kiss him." Hammond looked up in alarm, but Jack didn't notice. "If you kiss him, Carter, I will so kill you. Again."

"I assure you, Jack, that's one man I would never cheat on you with."

"Good to know." He sat quietly, realizing that it wasn't really good to know since he'd already assumed that anyway and the simple suggestion had put an unwelcome idea in his head. "Can't you make the lights flash or something?"

"I'm me, Jack, not a poltergeist."

Daniel joined in, unable to resist the temptation. "Actually, Sam, although a poltergeist is popularly known for making noise and causing mischief, it's really a spirit who makes its presence known through moving objects." He grinned. "Like cell phones and pitchers."

Teal'c smiled in Sam's unamused silence. "After witnessing your display of mischief in the cafeteria, I would have to agree that you are indeed a poltergeist, Samantha Carter."

Sam heaved a very unhappy sigh and decided she wasn't speaking to her friends anymore, even if they were the only ones besides Walter who could see her.

"But when it comes down to it, Sam," Daniel cleared his throat and tried to bite back his smile. "I think you're a succubus."

"I am not." Sam's eyes widened. Her cheeks grew red. "He was awake!" She squeezed her eyes closed and tried her ghost time movement backwards. It didn't work. "That's not why I'm here." She saw Jack's eyes slide downward, like he was hurt. "Not that it isn't a very good reason to stay."

Teal'c looked confused. "What is the definition of a succubus?"

Sam sat with her arms folded over her chest, refusing to answer. She was going back to her not speaking to them theory.

Jack shook his head at Teal'c. "I'm so not going there."

Daniel smiled weakly, realizing for once that he completely agreed with Jack. He'd been willing to tease Sam, but he didn't want to explain it to Teal'c. "Look it up."

"I shall." Teal'c did not look pleased.

"Uh, guys?" Jack looked around and then back at the group. "Where'd the general go?"