Sam frowned at her computer, studying the results from the latest round of tests on an alien artifact brought back by SG-2. That wasn't at all what she'd been expecting; she'd have to run all her data through the computer for correlation, because if there was any, she wasn't seeing it.
"Whatcha doin'?"
"Oh, hey, Jack," Sam said with a distracted glance at the door. "I'm not quite sure what exactly this thing is supposed to do, but what's really interesting is the physical properties of the material it's made of. It's made of an alloy we haven't come across before, and it doesn't—"
"Y'know, Sam, that was a rhetorical question. The chances of my actually understanding the answer are way less than the Red Sox winning the World Series."
Sam looked up to see amusement in Jack's brown eyes. She liked the way they crinkled when he was trying not to smile. "Oh. I'm sorry, Jack, it's just so fascinating."
"And I'm glad you think so," Jack said, picking up the item in question and fiddling with it. "But now it's time to go home."
"What?" Sam frowned as she retrieved the artifact and put it safely out of Jack's reach. "But I only had lunch about," she glanced at her watch and blinked in shock, "five hours ago. Oh." She shook her head, wondering where the day had gone.
"Time flies when you're having fun," Jack said, nodding. "And now it has flown, and it's time to go home. I'm hungry."
"Why don't you grab something in the commissary while you wait, then, Jack," Sam said, flipping on equipment and getting ready for the next test she wanted to run. She thought maybe if she—
"I'm sure Junior is hungry, too," Jack said, interrupting her train of thought. "Come on. It'll still be here tomorrow when we come back."
"Yeah, sure," she said absently. Sam was feeling a little hungry, now that he mentioned it, but she could grab a snack and wait till this was done to eat dinner. Doctor Roverud would be excited when she showed him what she had so far; maybe she should call him in before starting the next phase of testing. He was still being briefed and didn't even have a lab assigned to him yet, but this was his field, not hers, anyway. Still, if they could figure out how to reverse-engineer this stuff …
The sound of Jack clearing his throat ostentatiously brought her attention back to him. He had a piece of paper in front of him, and Sam groaned internally as she realized what it was.
"'I, Captain Samantha Carter, do solemnly swear that I will work neither too hard nor too long for the duration of my pregnancy. I will eat regular, balanced meals, and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I will not work longer than eight hours a day unless there is a dire emergency. I will not take work home with me. If I attempt to circumvent this agreement, I hereby give Colonel John (Jack) O'Neill permission to drag me, kicking and screaming if need be, home. I also hereby give him, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c, permission to call on Doctor Janet Frasier for medical backing, if need be. In the case of—'"
"Okay, you win," Sam said with a sigh, moving to shut down her equipment. "I know what that thing says, okay, Jack?"
"Just making sure," Jack said, folding it carefully and putting it back in his pocket. "And, hey, you worked a total of nine hours today, so cheer up."
Sam secured the artifact in her safe. She'd thought Jack was being ridiculous and over-dramatic when he'd come to her with that thing and asked her to sign it. Sam knew how to pace herself. She wasn't that much of a workaholic, was she? Unfortunately, as this was the third time this week that he'd had to bring it out and use it (and it was only Wednesday), she had a sneaking suspicion that maybe he was right and she did work too hard. Which kind of undercut her annoyance about the whole thing. But only a little.
"Okay," Jack said as she turned back to him, "want to say goodbye to Daniel on our way out? I swear, he needs a keeper as much as you do, but one geek at a time is enough for me."
"Sure," Sam said as they left her lab, closing the blast door behind her.
"Maybe I can sic Teal'c on him," Jack mused as they headed for the elevator. "The big guy should be able to handle him."
"The problem with that idea is that Daniel doesn't have anyone else who can do what he does," Sam pointed out. "They've only had a couple linguists recruited so far, and none of them speak Goa'uld yet. Until he can train people to take up the slack, there's not much you can do about it. And teaching Goa'uld takes up Daniel's time and means he has to work more overtime to get his regular work done."
"Good point," Jack said. "Teal'c spends an awful lot of time talking with the strategy/tactics types, and the weapons guys, but not the geeks. Maybe we can get him to teach them Goold, get that out of Daniel's hair. Then we can sic him on Daniel. Problem solved."
"I see," Sam said. "And recruiting good linguists?"
Jack waived a hand. "Not my department, but I'll talk to Hammond. Maybe we can get some geek courses taught at the Academy, get some kids in fresh out of school."
"There's already a lot of 'geek' courses at the academy," Sam pointed out, slightly amused at his plotting.
"Yeah, but they're all math and science and stuff," Jack said with a dismissive wave. "No language and dead cultures and that stuff Danny's always nattering on about. I'll talk to Hammond."
"You do that," Sam said. The chances of him succeeding were slim at best, given the amount of people he'd need to convince to get a curriculum change that massive and the fact that probably none of them knew about the Stargate and why such a change would be a good thing. Then there was the fact that the SGC was very new, and who knew what their needs would be in a few years. Military bureaucrats were just like every other kind, they liked to wait and see before doing anything. Still, if it kept him busy and out of her hair, she was all for it. It hadn't taken her long to figure out that a Jack with nothing to do was a scary thing indeed.
They stepped out of the elevator on level 18 and walked the short way down the hall to Daniel's lab.
"Hey, there, Danny-boy," Jack said.
"Hey, Jack," Daniel said absently. "I've been going over the pictures we brought back from P8X-494 and found some really interesting markings on some of the rock formations that I didn't notice while we were there. I think the planet may have been inhabited at one point…."
"That sounds interesting, Daniel," Sam broke in with the ease of practice. Honestly, when they got immersed in their work they were a lot alike. "Jack and I are headed out, now. We just stopped by to say good night."
"Yes, good night," Jack said. "Isn't it about time you went home too? Kicked back, ate dinner, watched a little hockey, whatever?"
"Oh, I've already had dinner," Daniel said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "And I am going home in not too long." He frowned and looked at his watch. "I think. But this is really fascinating, and I need to—"
"I'm sure," Jack said. "Really. I am. Fascinating. And we're going."
"See you tomorrow," Sam said, not mentioning that Jack was plotting to sic Teal'c on him. Misery loved company, after all, and her reduced work schedule was the only part of her current misery that she could share. Tender breasts, morning sickness (though that had finally gone away, thank God) and mood swings were not exactly communicable to her former teammates.
Besides, if Daniel wasn't happy she wouldn't exactly start crying.