A/N: Hi there. I apologize for the agonizingly long wait between chapters here. I always hated the people who did that and now im one of them.
Three cheers for hypocracy!
Anyway, i have nothing to blame but severe writers block. This was the chapter I had been dreading to write since I first planned this story out because i just had no clue what I was going to do with them in this chapter.
So I'm sorry, but its not my fault, honest!
There should be one more chapter after this one and I hope to get that up soon but midterms are next week so no promises.
Please read and review, they actually do make me write faster =)
"Mhm," he mumbled incoherantly as he moved closer to the warm body currently fitted against his.
Her back curved against his stomach as she moaned in those moments between sleep and waking. His arm wrapped around her, his hand against her stomach, holding her closer. Her blonde hair tickled his cheek as he settled his chin against her neck. His lips pressed against the curve of her neck and she groaned again in pleasure.
She mumbled incoherently as she rolled over, fitting against his body and resting her head on his chest. Their arms unconscouisly wrapped around each other in an almost hug, his fingertips crawling down her back and sending pleasant feelings coursing through her regardless of the fabric between her skin and his. He could feel her warm breath through his t-shirt as she sighed contentedly.
The first thought he had was that whatever, or more appropriately whomever, he was holding felt very right in his arms. The hands of 'whomever' it was that he was holding slid down lower, unknowingly hitting a rather...sensitive spot and causing him to come away from his pleasant dreamland. The second thought was that this something shouldn't feel right. 'Oh, shit, this is Carter!' he thought as he came fully awake and his sleep-grogy brain pieced everything together.
"Carter!" he cried as he rolled away from her very comfortable, very... beautiful body. He rolled so quickly he fell off the bed and landed with a thump on the floor.
"Sir!" she called, now completely awake, she rolled over to the edge of the bed and looked down at him.
He sat up quickly, "I'm okay," he said.
She almsot giggled, he did look quite disheveled like that and it was almost... cute. But she couldn't shake the feelings she had experienced just moments ago when he had held her like she had always wanted him too. It had felt right, too right, almost perfect.
It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair that the man she just had to go and fall in love with was not in love with her. She figured she might as well admit that she loved him to her self at this point, if no one else.
She sighed, offering her hand to pull him up, he accepted it but as soon as he was up he pulled his hand away quickly and she frowned at the sudden loss of contact.
He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but he stopped and his lips closed again, "Sir?" she quesitoned.
"Uh..." the man of many words began, just then there was a loud knock at the door, "Um, I'll get that."
He walked to the door and opened it to reveal Daniel, Teal'c, and Corin waiting outside. "Hey," Daniel said through a yawn.
"Give us a sec," the Colonel replied. They quickly gathered their gear and followed the three men out. As they rode down in the elevator she couldn't help but wonder at what he was going to say before the knock.
Daniel looked at him expectantly as they walked down the pink hallways and he shook his head sadly. They hadn't talked, not about the kiss, not about them or Daniel, not about anything. They hadn't "worked it out" as Daniel had so eloquently put it. Daniel gave him a look that read 'You idiot,' and he sighed.
He didn't like how wonderful touching her had felt, it made him feel... feelings and he hated himself for it.
Because even though there were the regs. Even though there was Daniel. When he held her like that, he had felt this ridiculous shred of hope, of happiness... stupid feelings.
The day passed by seemingly too quickly, he knew that Daniel was negotiating. That Teal'c was standing stoically nearby. But he definitely did not take notice of his second. He didn't even know she was there most of the day. Honest.
He didn't feel the almost electric air everytime they got a little bit closer. He didn't notice how Daniel laid a "reassuring" hand on her thigh during lunch. Or how she had been staying away from him all day.
Really.
For Sam the day passed in a blur of negotiations, meals of the finest local cuisine, (though she could've sworn that that last one was pizza), and thoughts of one nameless commanding officer.
No, thats not true. She didn't think about him once. Not about how her stomach fluttered when she felt his lips against her neck when she woke up in his arms, not about how his lips had felt against hers the day before. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
And don't even get her started on how much she didn't think about seeing him in that pink fluffy towel and how his chest... nope, didn't think about it at all.
Daniel had noticed. She didn't know what he had noticed, but he had noticed and she was glad for it. There was something about the way he could just smile at her or put his hand on her leg and she would feel a weight lift, and for a moment she would be okay again. But then all those things that she wasn't thinking about would come back.
She stepped out of the elevator and began to slowly walk to her room... ehem.... their room. Yeah, you heard right, there are still no other rooms available. And for some odd reason Daniel and Teal'c refused to switch rooms with either of them. Ja... The colonel seemed rather annoyed with them for it but they held their ground.
"Hey, Jack," she heard Daniel call behind her, as he too stepped out of the elevator, "Can I, uh... talk to you for a minute?"
She heard his grunt of admission but forced herself not to look back and to just keep walking towards the bright pink door. And as she walked she heard the poignant silence of the things they didn't want her to hear.
He watched as Daniel's eyes followed her progress down the hall, waiting for the click of the door before either spoke. She walked with a determined step. Step, step, step, click.
"You idiot!" Daniel said immeadiately after the sound reached their ears.
"What?" Jack turned back to face Daniel.
"What the hell did you say to her?" he asked, his electric blue eyes staring accusingly into his brown ones.
"I didn't say anything to her!" he exclaimed defensively.
"Well you must've said something wrong! Or done something wrong! Not that I'm surprised, this is you after all," he accused.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked incredulously, his voice rising.
"I think you know what it's supposed to mean," he spat his voice rising to match Jack's.
"No, Daniel! Why don't you tell me?" he pushed.
"You... Arghh, this is not what I wanted to talk to you about," Daniel said, becoming sensible again.
"Then what did you want to talk about," he said, not shouting anymore but speaking with a bitterness in his voice.
"I want to know what you said to her to make her so..." he gestured with his hands to describe the unsaid feeling.
Jack sighed, "Honest Daniel, I really said nothing to her. We didn't talk about anything. Well, we were going to when you," he poked Daniel's chest though not aggressively,"showed up."
"You guys had all night and you waited til then to talk to her!" he said a bit of the accusing tone seeping back into his voice.
"Daniel," Jack warned before this escalated.
He took a deep breath, "Sorry, sorry," he said, he leaned over and pressed the elevator button, "Just... talk to her tonight. Fix this."
"How?" Jack asked imploringly.
Daniel looked at him with almost pitying eyes, "I don't know Jack, but like I said, this is between you and Sam. For all you know this could all be one big misunderstanding. Work it out, Jack." The elevator doors opened and Daniel stepped in, he turned back to face him as the doors began to close again, "Just don't screw up Jack."
Why did everyone keep telling him that? He watched the doors close and Daniel faded away, "And how would I do that?" he asked the empty air.
"You talk to her," a female voice said. Jack nearly jumped out of his skin as he spun around, pointing his P-90 at the voice of the intruder.
"Nanna," he breathed, lowering his gun, "Don't do that!"
She giggled, "Boo," she threw her hands at him as though trying to scare him.
He quirked her a smile and then frowned again, "What do I do?" he asked her, begged her.
"You do just what I said, you talk to her," he looked at her incredulously, wondering if it could really be that simple. She smiled at him, she walked up behind him and gripped his shoulders, pushing him towards the room, "And don't forget what I told you before," she said as they reached the door.
"And whats that?" he asked, staring at the door with apprehension.
"She loves you," Nanna whispered against his ear, her bushy, brown hair tickling his cheek. She let go of his shoulders and knocked on the door for him and within seconds she was skipping away.
"Come in!" he heard Carter's voice muffled up to the door.
Sam decided to shower while Daniel talked to him. She climbed into the steaming water and let it run down her back for a moment, her skin adjusting to the temperature change. What would happen tonight, the tension between them was building, she knew it. It was only a matter of time until something pushed her too far and she would break. But what would that lead too? Her eyes closed as she imagined the gloomy possibilities. She climbed out of the warm water, done with her shower and began to dry off.
What the hell kind of game was he playing anyway? Was he toying with her? She rubbed the towel through her wet hair, now fully dressed, and wondered what Daniel and Jack were talking about.
Just then there was a knock. "Come in!" she called. The door opened to reveal her CO.
He walked in wordlessly and seemed lost in his thoughts. "Showers free," she said, slightly confused by his almost dazed behavior. He nodded without really looking at her and walked into the bathroom. She heard the water begin to run and so she climbed into the bed, snuggling against the covers, inhaling the lavender smell in the sheets and became lost in her thoughts.
He climbed into the shower, 'talk to her,' Nanna said, 'fix this,' Daniel said... How?
How did he fix this? He couldn't. Not without telling her everything, not without telling her how he felt. Feelings and Jack O'Neill just don't mix well, like oil and water, they don't go together.
"Ow," he said as he felt a stinging on his hand. He looked down and saw the scabs that had formed from his little incident with the lockers. He sighed, why was this his fault? Why isn't she taking any of the fall for the shitty-ness of this situation? Yeah, why him? This was her fault. They had had a balance, or something like a balance until she went and had to go fall for Daniel.
He felt the anger and frustration he had experienced while talking to Daniel bubble up in his chest. He should be angry with her, she was messing with him, it's his fault. He stepped away from the rushing water and dressed again, his thoughts speeding around in his head in an angry whirl.
She heard the door click open and knew that he had come back into the room but forced herself not to move. She heard him walk around the bed and waited for the sounds of him sliding into the bed next to her but those sounds never came, instead she heard an "Opfh," as he slid to the ground.
She sat up and leaned across the bed, looking down at him much as she had the day before, "Sir?"
He looked up at her, his eyes flashing with something she couldn't identify, "Carter?" he asked bitingly.
She was taken aback by his tone but continued anyway, "I thought we agreed you'd sleep on the bed instead of on the floor..."
"Well, we don't want any repeats of last night do we?"
She bit her lip but even still a mumbled, "Why not?" escaped her lips.
If she was looking for a trigger, she'd found it, "Why not? Why not?" he bolted upright, standing threateningly over her. "There's a million reasons why."
"Oh?" she questioned, feeling her anger rising to match his, "Well sir,"she said with contempt, "What are these reasons?"
"There's the regs," he said, but at the moment, this rule that had been blocking their happiness for so long seemed almost unimportant, "And we would'nt want your boyfriend to get jealous now would we?" he spat at her.
Boyfriend?
What the hell?