A/N: Sorry for the delay on this - real life hit me like a truck, and then my computer died and I lost most of what I'd written so this all had to be re-written from memory -ah! Plus the spell checker on here is awful and rarely saves any changes, but alas... apologies if there are any mistakes!
"So... what's in the box?"
"What box?"
"That box."
Sam looked at Rodney with confusion lining her brow. He waggled his eyebrows over zealously at the box that sat on her desk. It was about a foot square and wrapped in brown paper with a label with her name on it. Beside it sat a few letters and Sam assumed that they must have come through the Stargate with one of the regular shipments from Earth.
"Why?"
"You're making something aren't you?"
"What?" Sam looked from the box and up to Rodney again. He had a smug look on his face. She was about to say something to wipe it off when Dr Keller knocked on her open door.
"Sorry," Jennifer said when she saw that Sam's office was already occupied.
"No, its okay," Sam said, waving her in. "Rodney was just leaving..." She threw the man a look over her shoulder, pushing herself off from her desk in an attempt to get him moving.
Rodney waved his head, "Don't think you're getting away with it that easily..."
"Rodney-" Sam began, her voice sounding a touch irritated.
"I'm right aren't I?" He sneered. "You are making something..."
"What's this?" Jennifer perked up.
"Sam's creating something in secret," Rodney claimed, turning to the young doctor.
"No, I'm not..." Sam said, a little exasperated.
"Yeah... of course you are... I mean, why else would you get parcels every month in a box that normally houses mechanical parts?" He shifted slightly, allowing Jennifer to lean in and get a glimpse of the infamous box.
Sam glanced from both their faces and down at the parcel. He was right. She'd got a box every month from Jack and hadn't even realised he was using some of the boxes that she'd had stored in her garage. Some of them were still left over from when Orlin had bought parts to build the stargate.
"I don't know, Rodney..." Jennifer was saying, her eyes scrutinising the handwriting on the label, "In my experience there's normally another very good reason why an attractive, intelligent woman, who's away from home, would get a regular parcel such as this one..."
Sam could feel a faint flush start its way up her cheeks.
"Really?" Rodney asked, and he glanced from one female to the other.
Sam glared briefly at the doctor before turning and moving around to the other side of her desk. "Rodney," she sighed, "I can assure you it's nothing for you to be concerned about..."
Rodney opened his mouth to retort but the red tint on his commander's face made him pause. Long enough for the gate klaxon to kick off and for the two women beside him to disappear. He stared at the offending box for a few moments before disappearing himself.
-0-
The late evening sun was beating down on her face and Sam closed her eyes, savouring the heat and the wisps of wind that danced in her hair. If she tried hard enough, she could almost make herself believe she was in another chair, on another deck, on another planet... somewhere... almost...
She smiled to herself and opened her eyes. She looked down at the notes in her hand - all five of them to be exact. Each one had arrived amongst a collection of items in a parcel, similar to the one that she received today. Each one had a single letter in black on the front. At least that's what it looked like. And each one totally didn't make sense. It was so totally Jack.
The chime on her door sounded, and Sam glanced down at the notes again. She was comfortable sitting out here on her balcony, an ancient deck chair beneath her frame and legs propped up on the railing. "It's open!" She called, hoping that whoever it was could hear her.
She listened as the doors swished open and then closed, followed by a few shuffles, before a figure emerged beside her in the doorway to her room.
"Hi." Jennifer stood with her hands clasped in front of her.
Sam smiled. "Hi, take a seat." She waved with her hand at the chair beside her.
Jennifer hesitated slightly, before doing as she was told. "I came to apologise about before..."
Sam simply frowned.
"You know," Jennifer added, "When Rodney was pestering you about that parcel?"
"Oh...that."
"I didn't mean to embarrass you."
"That's okay," Sam smiled. "You didn't..." Jennifer merely raised an eyebrow. "Well," she continued, "I don't think Rodney really understood what you were going on about, so..."
Jennifer returned her smile. "Yeah... He can be a bit dense sometimes..."
Sam chuckled and looked back out at the ocean.
"So..."
This time it was Sam's turn to raise an eyebrow.
"Is it serious?"
Sam considered feigning ignorance, but thought better of it. Jennifer was intelligent enough to work it out the first time. Trying to fool her again would be pointless. "Yeah...you could sat that."
"Hmmm..." Jennifer smiled. "Sounds ambiguous..."
Sam returned the gesture. "It's complicated."
Jennifer snorted. "Show me a relationship that isn't..." They shared a smile before a comfortable silence descended upon them and they both peered back out at the water. But curiosity soon won out and Jennifer couldn't help but turn to the woman beside her. "So... what was in that box anyway?"
Sam smiled to herself. "All sorts of things really..." The look she received was one of amusement. Her eyes must have wondered down to the pile of notes in her lap, for before long Jennifer's gaze had landed on them and she gestured at them with a tilt of her head. Sam merely sighed. "Okay... but this isn't everything." She handed over the notes and studied Jennifer's face.
Jennifer looked at each note in turn. W L L Y M. "What does this mean?"
"That's just it," Sam sighed, "I'm not sure."
"You're not sure?"
"One arrives in every parcel - each time with a single letter on the front."
"You think it's some sort of code?" Jennifer asked.
Sam shrugged. "Right now, your guess is as good as mine."
"Have you asked him?"
Sam nodded. "He always claims he has no idea what I'm talking about..." Her memory of the conversation invaded her mind and she shook her head, unable to prevent a wistful smile from emerging upon her face. Suddenly she realised that Jennifer was the first person that she'd spoken to about this, apart from Jack. A sudden sadness enveloped her. But no sooner had it arrived, than it disappeared when the woman beside her threw her a smile.
"So it is serious..." Jennifer leered.
A faint tint of pink flushed her cheeks again and Sam couldn't help but laugh out loud at herself. In some ways she felt like she was a teenager again. Jack had managed to reduce her to a pile of goo and he wasn't even in the same galaxy. "You have no idea..." She muttered.
"Well..." Jennifer began, "Enlighten me..." The incredulous look thrown her way didn't go unnoticed and she shrugged, adding, "Come on, I'm a single girl stuck on a planet with a bunch of brooding aliens and no chick flicks!"
Sam smiled. "I have a bunch of classics on dvd that arrived recently..."
"Gone with the wind?"
Sam screwed up her nose. "I prefer Casablanca myself..."
Jennifer cleared her throat and put on a deep voice "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon..."
Sam laughed. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship..."
