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Take 92: A river in Egypt

Category for this take: Romance / Angst

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"This is great."

"I told ya!"

"I can't believe we didn't do this years ago."

"Yes, well, let's not dwell."

"Didn't that tape say there were no fish in your pond?"

"Close enough."

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"Sir, what's next?"

"Next?"

"For us. You know me. I need a plan."

"Well since I'm being forced into Hammond's old job as Head of Homeworld, our plan is shot to hell."

"So...time for..."

"Plan B."

"Right. What's plan B?"

"I'm open to ideas, Carter"

"We've waited for eight years already."

"I really don't want to wait."

"Retirement and reassignment as civilians are out."

"Right, even if we were hired back as civilians, the IOA would force some kind of oversight. Neither of us trusts the IOA."

"Chain of command options are out."

"I could try to call in a favor."

"You can't do that, Sir. Both of us agree with the regs. While we've been able to work despite our 'issues', we wouldn't want to be a precedent for others who might not handle it as well."

"So where does that leave us?"

"No more setups or fiancés for me."

"There's only one person I want to date, and she's sitting next to me."

"We can't really date."

"Why not?"

"That's against the regs."

"Ok, but we could go out as friends, who like to dress up for the evening. And I might pay because you know us two stars. We get the big bucks."

"Hmm, I won't be getting combat pay anymore."

"And jewelry gifts are just a courtesy because no one wants to buy jewelry for themselves."

"Jewelry?"

"I'm sure we could find some cold places where we might need to preserve body heat."

"I get really cold at night. Of course we wouldn't call that cuddling. I sometimes have trouble breathing. It's an undiagnosed condition."

"I guess I could help with that. I have good lungs. I'm selling my place in the Springs, so I don't have any place to stay when I'm in Nevada or Colorado."

"And I don't have any place to stay in Minnesota or DC."

"Friends bunk at each other's places all the time."

"Other than that, we just wait until you really retire."

"Which could be any day now, Sam"

"We can keep telling ourselves that, Jack"

"You like plan B? I think it will work."

"Me too. Plan B, the Denial Plan."