Inescapable: Chapter 8

AN: Disclaimer and all in Chapter 1. Thanks for all the reviews of the last chapter; I was a little surprised at how much people liked it! But away from the mindless humour for a while…

"You wished to see me, O'Neill," Teal'c stated as he came to rest in front of Jack's desk. Jack's eyes slid up to him, pensively.

"Wished … yes," Jack said absently as he slowly sat straight in his seat. "Have a seat, T," Jack said, swiping a hand at the seat to Teal'c's left.

They eyebrow arched at the seat and Teal'c turned back to Jack, "I prefer to stand."

"I keep forgetting," Jack said flippantly with a forced smile.

Jack scratched his neck with anxiety. Did he really need to know what Carter had argued with Pete about? The answer was plainly, no. He didn't need to know. He knew it was about him, he could've guessed that much though. What he wanted to know was had Pete disclosed the same information to Carter as he had to him - and what had Carter thought about it? The general release of his not-so-well-kept secret that he was in love with his 2IC, a release especially to her, wasn't bothering him as much as he'd originally expected. Jack O'Neill never was a hard man to read and at certain times along their journey, he had been almost transparent to Carter. She'd already had a good idea about how he felt towards her and he had known that, chose to ignore it 99 of the time, but knew it. What he didn't, hadn't and couldn't know, was exactly how she felt about that. There used to be something between them, it was unmistakable, but was it love- for his part, yes, but he was a daft, possibly crazy old man and she was a woman that half the men on base were most likely 'in love' with. No, his feelings didn't matter. Hers did. And recently, everything, especially a sparkling rock on her finger, pointed to the fact that he was not the man she loved.

"O'Neill?"

Jack's head shot up, he had been staring at his desk and the altitude of Teal'c's eyebrow told him he had been doing so for a while. He winced. This was one of his transparent moments again. He was kind of disappointed Carter wasn't around to interpret. Teal'c would have a good idea also though. He should just jump in, head first.

"What did he say to her?"

"I do not-"

"T, buddy," Jack waved a dismissive hand at him. "Throw an old dog a bone, eh?" He implored with eyes that even he knew were pathetic.

"A bone, O'Neill?"

"Oh for cryin' out loud…" Jack whispered, shaking his head. He rubbed his hands roughly over his face and dragged them gradually down his face, pulling at his skin. He took a breath, his hands still hovering over his mouth. "I need to know what Carter said."

Teal'c regarded Jack O'Neill closely. Perhaps it would be for the greater good if he told O'Neill. "Very well." He ignored the sigh of relief from across the room. "While I was preparing for rest the night of Colonel Carter's party, I heard raised voices from her room…"

"Where is all this coming from, Pete? Why all the sudden questions about General O'Neill?"

"I'm just curious about your relationship."

"Relationship?"

"What else would you call it?

"Ah … friendship!"

"Sure."

"You're kidding me right? You think there's something going on between us?"

"I've seen the way you two interact… and how many awkward moments did I walk in on in just one evening, Sam?"

"We're close, and the awkwardness was just because we were having a disagreement."

"About?"

"What?"

"What were you 'disagreeing' about?"

"… Work."

"Right."

"Pete, you're being paranoid, there is nothing but a close friendship between General O'Neill and I."

"How come you never call him Jack?"

"What? What has that got to do with anything?"

"Just answer it."

"Because he's my CO."

"A CO you say you have a 'close friendship' with and you've never called him Jack?"

"I… probably, a few times… I don't know."

"When?"

"Pete!"

"You have feelings for him, Sam."

"Pete…"

"I thought it was just some sort of deep respect born out of the situations you've faced with him, with the team… the way you always talked about them. You always talked about Teal'c and Daniel so much more than him, with so much more openness and I thought it was a simple detachment of a CO and 2IC, some silly military thing."

"Stop..."

"Until I saw the way you look at him."

"There's nothing going on, Pete. I swear."

"That doesn't mean there's nothing there."

"I'm getting married to you, Pete."

"Yes, you are."

"I did not hear much after that." Teal'c explained, lifting his jaw a little.

"I see," Jack said to no one in particular.

"I must request…"

"Yeah…" Jack nodded for him to leave, a littledazed at what he'd told him. He took a steadying breath as his head lulled back to rest on the top of the seat. Suddenly his head bolted upright.

I have to talk to Carter….

Jack suddenly found himself a few strides away from Carter's lab. He had strode very purposefully here and now he found himself within earshot of the twittering machines she spent days among and he was frozen. How many times had he strolled in there with the sole purpose of just distracting her? Or as she would put it, annoying her and amusing himself. It wasn't often he went in there with something specific to say, he wasn't a profound man. In fact, the last time he had come here with something of the like to say, he had injected humour to start it off. The humorous part hadn't lasted long, though. And hadn't it taken him two weeks to convince himself he should talk to her? What on earth had convinced him he could talk to her about this right now?

He glanced at the open doorway again. If he hovered out here much longer, people were going to notice, or she would come out and catch him, cue uncomfortable sarcastic remark, a clumsy getaway and he'd be back in his office, banging his head off his desk. He took a brave step towards her lab.

"She's not in there, Jack."

Jack's head spun around to see Daniel propped up against a wall, arms folded and legs crossed, a half smile twitching on his lips.

"How long have you been there?" Jack snapped, walking towards him with a scowl on his face.

"Long enough," Daniel retorted with a shrug of his eyebrows as he left the support of the wall.

"Get my email, Daniel?" Jack asked with a snarl.

Daniel grinned. "Talked to Teal'c, Jack?"

Jack narrowed his eyes and sped past Daniel, retreating. Daniel shuffled his feet and hurried after him, trotting to catch up.

"Are you going to tell her?"

"Tell her who what?" Jack answered with a bite and Daniel sighed.

"Carter - that you're-"

"Where is Carter, Daniel?" Jack interrupted him as fast as he could, trying to ignore the fact he had begun speaking at all and that his question was just a random wondering.

"She sent me an email, asked if I'd cover for her for a while."

Jack's feet stopped and Daniel ended up a few feet ahead of him, turning with a raised eyebrow.

"Cover for what?"

"The fact that she's gone."

"Gone?" Jack questioned with a quick jostle of his head. He was pissed, with Daniel, with Carter, with everything.

"Off base," Daniel offered easily. Too easily for Jack's liking. He began walking again. "She didn't think you'd notice." Daniel added, glancing out of the corner of his eye for Jack's reaction. He smirked inwardly as he saw Jack's eyebrows fly up.

"She didn't think I'd notice?" Jack reiterated pointedly, incredulous.

Daniel shrugged, agreeing with Carter's assumption. "You have been avoiding her like a plague."

"Maybe like a mild flu," Jack suggested. Daniel flashed a small smile. "Anyway I thought it was you I was avoiding."

"I thought you weren't avoiding me."

"I avoid you whenever it's possible, Daniel."

"I'm beginning to realise…" Daniel muttered to himself.

"Speaking of which…" Jack moved to turn a corner and escape Daniel. Daniel reacted and his hand flew out and caught a hold of Jack's BDU'S causing Jack to stumble back, cursing.

"Maybe you should take a few hours off too, Jack," Daniel said, looking directly at Jack's murderous eyes.

"I have a lot of paperwork to do, Daniel." Jack growled, shrugging himself free of Daniel and storming away.

"It's not going to go away, Jack. Not until you do something about it," Daniel called after him. Jack treaded on, flicking a dismissive hand back at Daniel. Daniel bounced onto his tiptoes as if it would carry his voice further. "It's inescapable, Jack!"

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