"Mmm… Pizza," Jack said as he reached for another piece from the boxes spread out on the coffee table.
"That's the eighth piece you've had," Daniel observed disbelievingly.
"And you've had just as many beers," Sam added from her spot, curled up quite comfortably against Daniel's right side.
"So?" Jack asked, not seeing their point. After five years, he was far past the point of caring what his teammates thought of his eating habits.
"So we will have to watch Star Wars again tomorrow," Teal'c answered with a large smile. "Otherwise you will not recall the second half of the movie."
"You just want us to re-watch the movie. Again," Daniel stated wryly as he idly ran his fingers through Sam's short hair.
"If O'Neill can force me to go fishing, I can force him to watch Star Wars repeatedly," Teal'c stated smugly, a satisfied smirk creeping over his features to replace the rare smile.
"And that means we have to suffer, why?" Sam asked sleepily.
"Unfortunately, I think we're innocent victims caught in the crossfire," Daniel noted wryly as the credits rolled past on the TV screen.
"Well, since we're all on downtime for a week, why don't we all go fishing?" Jack suggested with evil glee as he hit the stop button on the remote.
"I'd rather clean up my place with a toothbrush," Sam groaned as she hid her face in Daniel's shoulder.
"I'm just joking," Jack assured. "Maybe next weekend."
"Tomorrow we're cleaning your place up," Daniel reminded her with a poke in the shoulder to make sure she didn't doze off.
"I'd appreciate your help, but if you have something else to do…" Sam started.
"We went through this already," Jack said, standing up. "Don't tell us you don't want to be any trouble. And don't apologize either," he continued, walking to the DVD player and ejecting the disc. "I've had way too much to drink to make it to Denver."
"Yes sir," Sam said, grabbing Daniel's arm and wrapping it around her waist as a pre-emptive move against Jack's predictable reaction to her use of the 's' word.
Jack smiled, hearing the suppressed giggle in her response. After their team heart-to-heart, playful, silly Sam had replaced withdrawn, morose Sam and the tension between them all had eased. But Jack wasn't foolish enough to believe that a simple conversation was enough to make everything wonderful between the four of them.
Sam was a decent actress when she had to be, but not good enough to convince him that she didn't still feel the sting of being betrayed by him, Daniel and Teal'c. Jack was pretty sure that at least some of the playfulness was for their benefit, an attempt to assuage some of their guilt for not believing her over the last few weeks. He also suspected she was trying to mask her feelings about her alien housemate's death, in light of the fact that Orlin had claimed to love her, but that was nothing more than a guess on Jack's part. Regardless, he could understand what she was trying to do and was willing to do his part to help.
Hiding his smile, he turned around and menacingly stalked towards her. "What did you just say?" he growled, his voice low.
"Sorry sir, it won't happen again," Sam said, mischievously emphasizing the two worst 's' words in the English language.
"That's it!" Jack yelled. He dove at the chair, making Sam squeal and Daniel scramble over the arm to get out of the way.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Put me down!" Sam squealed as Jack threw her over his shoulder and headed up the stairs. Realizing her faux pas, Sam tried to correct it, crying, "I'm not sorry! I'd do it again! Put me down!"
"Oh not you don't!" Jack replied, "You're not getting away with it this time!" he swore as he charged up the last few steps.
Confused, Daniel and Teal'c followed Sam's squeals up the stairs and into the spare bedroom. Once there, they found Jack struggling to simultaneously pull back the covers on the bed and keep a hold of Sam's squirming body.
Teal'c stepped forward silently and pulled the blankets back, figuring it would be better if no one needed to see Doctor Frasier at three o'clock in the morning to have broken bones set. Both of his eyebrows were steadily creeping higher and higher up his forehead. The antics of his human teammates never failed to surprise him; even when he thought they couldn't possibly get any stranger, they found a way to do just that.
As soon as the dastardly obstacle known as bed sheets was dealt with, Jack gently dumped his wriggling, giggling prisoner on the bed. In one final demonstration of absolute power, he pulled the covers up to her chin and tucked them snugly around her.
"That's a punishment you won't soon forget," Jack declared as he dropped down on the edge of the bed dramatically.
"Neither will we," Daniel added. "Did we miss something?"
"Nothing important," Sam assured trying and failing to stop a yawn.
"Good night O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Major Carter," Teal'c said, knowing that a hasty escape was the better part of valour when his teammates were being particularly rambunctious. He bowed his head at each of them in turn before making his way back to the living room to kel'no'reem, a chorus of 'goodnights' following him down the hall.
"He definitely has the right idea," Daniel echoed, leaning down to brush a few wayward locks of Sam's hair from her eyes. "See you guys in the morning."
"Take my bed tonight Danny," Jack instructed. "I'll take the couch."
"Nah," Daniel replied turning quickly and waiting until he was a step away from the door before adding, "Unless, of course, you plan on getting me into bed the same way you did Sam!" He quickly ducked out of the room to avoid the pillow that was thrown at him. Daniel would never be the one to break it to Jack, but the couch was infinitely more comfortable than the older man's bed.
"Night Carter," Jack said quietly as he got to his feet. Leaning down, he surprised them both by kissing her on the forehead for the second time that night. Before heading for the door he pinned her with a serious gaze. "Promise me you'll never do that to me again," he demanded gently.
"Do what?" Sam asked in confusion. Judging from the tense posture he'd assumed and the dark look that had crossed his face, she knew he wasn't talking about her slipping up in the 's' word department, but he'd made it clear earlier that he didn't blame her for disobeying his order back at her house.
"That. Back in your basement," he explained. When it became clear that she still wasn't sure what he was talking about, he heaved a heavy sigh and elaborated.
"When the Special Forces team decided to move in, I told myself that they were trained professionals and I almost convinced myself that when they found you in there, no one would have an itchy trigger finger," Jack told her honestly. "When they made it to the basement and nobody could find you, I was relieved for a fraction of a second. Then I saw the stargate and realized that it may have been better for one of the Special Forces guys to shoot you. Christ, Carter! I didn't know if you'd gone through willingly or if he'd dragged you through kicking and screaming. I didn't know if you were even alive," he paused, scrubbing a hand through his hair wearily.
"I never meant to make you worry," Sam said quietly, both surprised and touched at the depth of emotion he was allowing her to see. Even though he wasn't saying it, she knew that he was asking her never to scare him like that again.
"I had to call Hammond to tell him, and Daniel, Teal'c and Frasier were waiting with him to find out what had happened. Do you know how hard that was?"
"I'm sorry," Sam apologized, sincerely regretting the fear and worry she'd put all of them through. "There was no time to think about it or tell you what I was doing. The gate was open and I knew Orlin would never be able to convince SG-16 to abort the test alone. I also knew that the Special Forces team was coming in and that they'd never just let me go..."
"Carter, I convinced that team to send you in – if anything had happened to you, it would have been my fault," he interrupted, the guilt plain on his face for a split second before his familiar mask of indifference slipped back into place.
"It was my choice, not yours," Sam argued.
"We could argue back and forth all night," Jack sighed, calm once more as he turned to leave the room. "But we won't. All that matters is that you never ever do that to me again."
"Night sir," Sam said quietly, intentionally not making any promises.
"Night Carter," Jack replied as he left the room, recognizing her avoidance but not calling her on it.
As Jack's footsteps faded down the hall, Sam rolled on to her left side and curled up in a ball. The instant she was alone, the happy and relaxed attitude she'd affected disappeared and was replaced by the tumult of pain she'd been struggling to keep at bay all night long. She knew she would be left alone for hours, so she didn't bother to fight the tears burning her eyes anymore. Burying her face in the pillow to muffle her sobs, she finally allowed herself to grieve for Orlin and the unwavering faith in her teammates that had been battered so badly in the last few weeks.