Driving up the twisting mountain road, Jack O'Neill listened to the soothing CD music, hoping it would give him the calm center he needed for the upcoming confrontation. He felt a niggle of ire as he thought back to the scene five days ago when Carter had stormed into his office demanding in barely civil tones to know what he had said to Jonas.
At the time, O'Neill had been honestly confused. When the preliminary translations of the writing from the pillars on P9Z-whatever had shown promise of a weapons cache, a full survey was ordered. Thinking he was throwing a bone to Jonas, O'Neill had gone to General Hammond and scored the Kelownan a temporary assignment to SG14 to go and translate to his heart's content. When he had told him, Jonas had smiled that irritatingly sunny smile of his and had gone off to play in the dirt with five other archeologists.
Sam's anger had caught him totally off guard. She scathingly explained that when she saw Jonas off, he had remarked that she shouldn't worry as he intended to earn his way back onto SG1. The major had wrongly assumed that O'Neill had told the man he was off the team. Jack had had to throw his rank in her face to get her to calm down.
SG14 and its little covey of science geeks was due back within a few hours, and O'Neill was trying not to get himself worked up. Once Carter understood that Jack had done nothing to deserve her scorn, she had apologized, and the last five days had been downright peaceful. Too peaceful, in fact. It had given him way too much time to reflect on the amount of tension Jonas Quinn had caused on the team.
His first, second and third reactions had been to blame the Kelownan. But then his own essential honesty forced him to evaluate his own actions, and he realized that it was his own unwillingness to bend that had been causing the tension. Jonas did nothing but try hard to fit in, and Jack simply had ignored the man. Even after the Kelownan had risked his life to save his teammates in a sunken mothership, Jack had barely acknowledged him.
Sighing as he pulled into his parking space, O'Neill knew he and Jonas had to have a little talk. The Kelownan's remark to Sam showed that the man had not understood why Jack had gotten him the temporary assignment, and Jack knew for a fact that he had not gotten that Jonas was anything but thrilled at the opportunity. Shaking his head in bemusement, he wondered how a guy so apparently honest and straightforward could be so good at hiding his feelings.
As he made his way past the security checkpoints to his office, O'Neill kept going over in his mind what he wanted to say, and how he wanted to say it. Carter had told him in no uncertain terms that Jonas found him intimidating. Privately O'Neill liked the idea, but he knew that professionally, he had to establish a better relationship with the man.
Trust was a two-way street. While Jack was slowly coming to accept and trust the Kelownan, he wasn't all that sure that Jonas actually trusted him. The crack at the gate seemed to imply that the man thought Jack was just looking for a reason to kick him off the team.
That hadn't been true since the mothership. In large part, it was because no one better had come along, but the last five days of reflection had revealed an unpleasant truth. Jack was beginning to actually like that 'gee whiz' attitude.
O'Neill entered his office and sat down to a full in-basket. Knowing that SG14 would not be back for at least another four hours, Jack pursed his lips in distaste and started in on another round of the unending paperwork.
"O'Neill." Jack looked up to see Teal'c standing in the doorway.
He smiled a welcome, relieved for any reason to ignore his paperwork. "T. Good morning. Wanna go get some breakfast or something?"
The Jaffa cocked an eyebrow. "Were you not going to speak to Jonas Quinn today?"
"Yep. It's right here on the agenda." Jack made a show of shuffling some paper. "I know there's an agenda here somewhere."
"Do the Tau'ri not have a saying, 'there is no time for the present'?"
Jack blinked puzzling out the big man's words. After a moment, the light dawned. "Like, Teal'c. No time LIKE the present."
"As you say."
Jack stared at his friend, who stared calmly back. Finally, he said, "T, I have absolutely no idea of what you're talking about."
Only the slightest narrowing of his eyes gave away Teal'c's exasperation. "I believe it is better not to put off speaking with Jonas Quinn, O'Neill."
With a puzzled frown, O'Neill responded, "Teal'c, SG14 isn't due back until 1100 hours. I don't think this is the kind of conversation I want to have in the control room over a MALP camera."
The big Jaffa nodded slightly as if something had become suddenly clear. "O'Neill, SG14 returned some time ago. Jonas Quinn is in the infirmary for his post mission check."
"Aw, for cryin' out loud." O'Neill got up and headed out the door, Teal'c like a silent shadow following him.
