Chapter 3 – The Office Christmas Party

A/N – I know that a lot of people don't like the whole Sam/Pete relationship but wow I didn't realize you all hated it that much. So many of you read the last chapter, but so few of you reviewed it, that I'm wondering if I should continue this fic at all considering there will be mention of Pete a lot since she's married to him even though it is a Sam/Jack fic.

With that in mind though, here's more of what's to come and then let me know.

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Light was seeping through the blind in the bedroom signaling the dawn of another day for Dr. Samantha Carter. She had woken early, awakened by the confusion of another erotic dream involving Jack O'Neill. She lay still, trying not to disturb her husband, and attempted to pinpoint exactly when her feelings had changed from purely collegial to something … more, for Jack.

They had become confidants pretty early on in her time at the SGC, with him becoming her 'go to person' when she needed advice, especially when it involved base politics and how to handle tricky situations. He was open and honest with her and she genuinely liked the man. She never felt the need to look at him with fear or reverence, two of the many emotions that were often associated with him by military and civilians alike. It had never been that way for Sam. He was simply another person that she worked with and if he was a hero who was politically powerful within the arena of Homeworld Security, so be it.

But when had things gone from this to something more? The Christmas party? Maybe. She could definitely remember some pretty major flirtation between them that night.

Sam had only been at the bar where the party was being held for a short while before people were asking her if she knew where General O'Neill was since he had yet to arrive. She found it amusing that the military contingent of the SGC were asking her, of all people, where their fearless leader was hiding out.

Even though she was a civilian contractor, she was the lead scientist assigned to work on SG-1, either to assist in off world missions or to perform research on the alien artifacts that the team brought back to Earth. She also worked with the other lead SG teams as the need arose. This meant that even though she was an outsider, being non-military, she worked so closely with her teams that she was viewed as one of the guys.

When they went out for drinks after either a really great or truly awful mission, she was invited. Other scientists were jealous of the way she had been accepted after such a short amount of time, especially since most of them had been there for years and were never asked to socialize with the combat teams.

Sam walked up to the bar to get another drink and while she waited for the barman to make her cosmopolitan she surreptitiously pulled out her government issued Blackberry and e-mailed the General, knowing from experience that no matter where he was, the Blackberry would be housed in it's cradle attached to his belt, whether in full dress blues, BDU's or in civvies. Using her thumbs, she quickly composed an e-mail to Jack.

Where are you? If you're not careful I'll be sozzled before you get here.

She took a couple of seconds to check her spelling, especially of the word that her Anglo-Irish Mom used to use to describe when she had one too many glasses of wine, and depressed the button on the side of the device to send her note. She turned back to the bar as she slipped her Blackberry back in its cradle which hung from the inside pocket of her purse. She picked up her drink, smiling at that barman in thanks at the same time.

She scanned the room and found the group that she really wanted to hang out with that evening which was made up of Dr. Daniel Jackson, Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Teal'c of SG-1 and Dr. Janet Frasier, the base's Chief Medical Officer and Sam's best friend at work. She made her way through the melee of people saying Hello to those who made eye contact with her as she walked. Everyone was dressed in civilian clothing, for the most part very nice clothing, but she could still easily recognize the military within the group. Haircuts couldn't lie!

For some reason she couldn't explain to herself, let alone her husband, Sam had wanted to look particularly nice for the party. She had gone to the hairdresser to have her hair blow dried and it was shaped in all the right places. She wore slightly more make-up than usual and a dress that she would never wear to work. It was a black sleeveless dress with a low cut V at the front which showed just a little peak of breast. It fell to her calf at the front and her heel at the back. She felt good and ready to have some fun. That night she was just Sam. Not Dr. Carter, Mrs. Shanahan or Mom.

As she stood talking with her friends, she noticed the blinking light of her Blackberry, signaling that a new e-mail had hit her in-box. It could have been from any one of a hundred people but, irrational as it was considering the short lapse in time, she knew it was from Jack. She pulled the device from her bag, opening the message as she did. She heard Janet speak over the din of music and conversation and looked up to hear her better.

"Woman, would ever stop working for once. This is a party, remember!"

Sam smiled at her, nodding her head to acknowledge the validity of the statement while wondering if this particular e-mail could be categorized as 'work'. She flicked her eyes back to the message and re-read it.

I don't know what sozzled is, but it sounds interesting.

Even though she should have been annoyed that he hadn't answered her question as to his whereabouts, she smiled to herself, warmed by his response. Even though he had the ability to make her laugh when she most needed it, she realized that at that particular moment that wasn't the reason why she was smiling. She didn't know if it was her overly analytical mind, or the two cosmo's she'd already consumed, but she had a feeling that Jack was actually flirting with her.

She raised her face from the small screen and found herself looking directly into the twinkling chocolate brown eyes of the very man of whom she had been thinking. Jack was standing with a group of officers positioned right behind Janet's shoulder and Sam blushed as he looked down at the Blackberry in her hand and raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

Normally she would have simply looked away in embarrassment, considering she was a married woman and he was a married man, but inexplicably she didn't. Being around Jack O'Neill seemed to make her lose all traces of common sense and she quickly typed a response and pressed send. She turned away from his intense gaze, resuming her conversation, trying her best to ignore the curious looks her friends were sending her way.

At the same time, Jack felt the vibration of the message arriving against his belt and pulled it out knowing that it was Sam.

Stick around and you'll get to see sozzled in person

He chuckled and looked up with every intention of catching her eye but he was surprisingly disappointed to discover that her eyes were not where they had been. She had turned away from him and was now deep in cheerful conversation with members of his former team and the Doc. He unconsciously shrugged his shoulders and looked around the room for the next group he would join knowing that as General he would be expected to talk to every single person at the party.

TBC?