Jack's truck pulled up next to a garish neon yellow and pink sign which said "Battleground Paintball". The parking lot was small, maybe 20 spaces at best. How this place stayed in business he wasn't sure. As soon as the ignition was off, Daniel jumped out of the back seat and stretched his arms above his head.

"Jack, do you have any more coffee?" He yawned. "It's 7am on a Sunday, I need something to wake me up."

Jack sighed.

"You drank yours, mine and T's! I tell you what, when we get in there, I'll shoot you in the ass with a paintball, that should wake you up."

Frowning, Daniel headed for the trailer van in the corner of the lot which smelled of grease and burned bacon fat in search of the dark, scalding liquid which was his lifeline.

Sam's car pulled up 10 minutes later and Cassie jumped out and ran over to Jack's truck.

"Uncle Jack!" She screamed, a little too loudly for the time of morning, "I brought my knee pads and the gloves you gave me," she said, wiggling her fingers in front of his face clad in Jack's old, worn fingerless leather gloves,"turns out they did come in handy after all!"

Jack grinned at her but his grin faded when Pete suddenly appeared at her side.

"Morning, General!" He exclaimed, and Jack winced and waved a hand dismissively.

"Morning... Detective." He glanced around searching for Sam who was standing by the burger van with Daniel who handed her a steaming polystyrene cup. She held it between her hands gleefully and began sipping. Gesturing to Sam he stood up, "I'm just gonna grab a cup myself."

Pete nodded brusquely.

"No worries, I came prepared," he said proudly tapping the brushed metal tumbler in his hand, "you never know what the coffee will be like in these places!"

Jack nodded sarcastically.

"Yeah, sure. Well I'll just be..." He trailed off and walked towards Sam. Just as he approached her, she laughed at something Daniel had said and stepped backwards bumping into Jack's chest. He placed a hand on her arm to steady her and her face flushed ruby red as she spun and her shocked eyes rose up to meet his, quickly looking away. She said something that Pete couldn't make out from this distance but his posture stiffened as Sam dug her toe awkwardly into the ground behind her, twisting her knee for side to side and he notice idly that Jack still gently held her arm. The way Jack's eyes searched her face...

"So, Pete, you ever done this before?" Cassie interrupted his thoughts and bounced in front of him, blocking his view.

"Huh?"

"You ever played this game before?"

Pete shook himself.

"I, ah, yeah, once or twice. With the guys from my squad. Usually kick their asses too!" He beamed proudly, the previous few moments shoved to the back of his mind. Cassie laughed.

"Yeah, well, don't be too sure of yourself, Peter. Teal'c's been doing this for longer than you've been alive and Uncle Jack is a machine!"

Pete frowned at Cassie's assessment of Jack and stared across the lot at him animatedly gesturing to Sam and Daniel. Sam was giggling. He had to have at least 10 years on himself and Sam. There was no way he was gonna get beaten by a pensioner, military or no! His jaw set firmly and Cassie grinned slyly to herself as she noticed the direction he was looking in and the determined look in his eyes. Oh this was gonna be one hell of a show!