The next day
Email from Jack to Sam:
I'm emailing this invite so we don't get overheard this time. 7pm, my place.
Email from Sam to Jack:
Your cover is blown. I now know that you know how to use your computer.
Email from Jack to Sam:
You already know it. You're not fooling anyone.
Email from Sam to Jack:
You mean I'm not fooling anyone by pretending that you are fooling me when you are clearly not.
"Do you like Chinese?" Jack asks as soon as the door opens.
"Yes, sir," she says.
"Yeah, we're not doing the whole 'sir' thing on our dates," he commands.
"Fine, but then you don't get to give me orders," she shoots back.
"Right, in a relationship, the girl gives the orders. I've been around the block a couple of times, and I know how this works," he teases. The two of them sit down in the spots that they always sit in when they are on team nights. They are on opposite sides of the room.
They sit in silence.
The doorbell rings, and they both breathe a sigh of relief. The relief is somewhat short-lived. After five minutes, they are sitting at the table eating the Chinese food.
"I thought it would be easier for us to figure out who we were in private," he mutters, by way of apology for the silence.
"You know what we need? A game," Sam says with certainty.
"I think I have a deck of cards," he says carefully, mostly because he isn't all that sure about the cards.
"Have you ever played 'would you rather'?" she asks with a wicked grin.
He shakes his head.
"Okay, so I give you two people or situations, and you decide which one of them you would rather have," she pauses and thinks for a minute, "Would you rather be stuck forever on a deserted planet, or never be able to go through the Stargate again?"
Jack flinches, "Well, having thought that I was stuck on a planet forever I guess I pick never going through the Stargate, but that would really suck."
"That's kind of the point in the game. Usually both of the options suck," Sam says.
A wicked grin covers his face, "You can pick people?"
"Yeah, like who you would want to be with if you had to pick."
"Teal'c or Daniel?" he giggles.
Sam makes a face, "Are you sure you want to go there?"
He nods.
"Teal'c. I love Daniel like a brother, but I think if I had to live in the same house as him, the talking would drive me nuts."
Jack laughs.
"Same question, Jack," Sam returns.
"They're boys, Carter," Jack objects.
"I don't care," she says, leaning back in her chair.
"Okay, then I guess I'd pick Daniel. He's the more feminine of the two, what with the constant needs to talk about feelings."
"I may not be feminine enough for you," she teases.
"I don't actually enjoy talking about my feelings, so I think we'll be fine. Motorcycle or spaceship?"
"Oh, you had to have picked the hardest one ever. Can't I have a spaceship with a motorcycle track?" she pleads.
He shakes his head.
"Fine, spaceship," she says, as if she's just been robbed. "Living with the Nox or the Tollen," she says.
"Nox, they've got the whole nature thing going for them. You?"
"Tollen, their technology is a lot cooler."
"I don't know, the Nox have a giant flying city, that is pretty technology-orientated," he protests. "Antarctica or Egypt?"
"Easy, neither one of us had a great experience in Antarctica, so I take Egypt," she says quickly. He disagrees, but he doesn't want to tell her that even though he nearly died Antarctica wasn't all bad for him. He's not going to say that, though, because he really doesn't want to talk about emotions, and he has done more than enough of that lately. She sees his face though, and reads something on it. "Really, sir? You had three broken bones."
"It's when I started to realize… you," he says.
"You said goodbye to Sara," she says, confused.
"Okay, well, I don't actually remember that, but you handled yourself really well. It made me see you in a whole new way."
"I didn't know you'd had feelings for me that long."
"So when did it start for you?"
"I'm not sure. I think it started before I even noticed, I knew that time that alien orb almost killed you. When I thought about living without you…" she feels awkward at the serious turn in the conversation, "Apophis or Ra?"
"To date or kill?" he asks for clarification.
"To date," she says with a giggle.
"I'm going to have a talk with Jacob about the obvious errors he made in raising you," Jack teases.
Sam's smile fades.
Wrong thing to bring up, Jack scolds himself, she so doesn't want to be thinking about her father right now.
"What is my father going to think of this?" she asks, addressing it directly. That's new, usually Sam is second only to him in ignoring the big things in life.
"All a dad ever wants is for his kids to be happy. I'm sure once you explained it he'd be fine," Jack says, even though he isn't exactly all that sure of it himself.
"I don't know about that. When he first got cancer, I told him I was happy at my job, but he insisted that I try to be an astronaut."
"You can't blame him. He thought you were huddled over a telescope all day. He didn't know you were on the most amazing adventure of your entire life," Jack says.
"I don't know, he should have just accepted what I said. If I said I was happy he should have smiled and given me a high five," she says. She sighs, "And he is defiantly not going to be giving me a high five over this."
"Are you changing your mind?" he asks. It causes cool panic to settle in his stomach. He thought it was agony to be near Carter all the time without doing anything about his feelings, but it is going to be a lot harder now that they have embarked on even the briefest of romance.
She shakes her head, "I'm not changing my mind because of dad. I'm just not going to be super eager to tell him right away."
"Chinese or pizza?" Jack asks.
"Real human food," she says.
"That was not one of the options. Your made-up option assumes that I could cook," he jokes.
"What? Your beer soaked steaks burnt to a crisp is delicious," she says. "Besides, I can cook."
"You've been keeping secrets from me?" he teases.
"Says the man who convinces people he is not smart when he clearly is. Did you ever have your IQ taken?"
"Nope," he says, but his voice quivers.
"Come on, Jack," she coheres.
"Mum is the word," Jack replies.
"Just tell me if it's higher or lower than mine?" she asks.
"Do you really think competition would be wise?" he asks.
"Oh, that means higher; did you beat Daniel, too?" she demands.
"Carter, what makes you even think that I know you guys' IQs?" he asks, narrowing his eyes at her.
She reaches across the table, and takes his hand on impulse. It's sweaty. Somehow she never would have guessed that she had the power to make her commanding officer's pores pour forth. It's a bit of a compliment.
He grins, "Marty or Narim?"
"Narim, at least I knew that whatever he felt for me was actually for me, and not for someone who happened to die inside of my head. Besides, the two people inside of one body kind of freaks me out. It's even weirder when I only have one person inside of my head. Kynthia or Laira?" she shoots back.
"Laira, with the two of us we were honest. We both knew that we were just settling for this, because we couldn't have what we really wanted. Besides, Kynthia seemed like she was very young."
"Well, she was only a month old," Sam says earning her a glare from Jack. "Hammond or Walter?"
"Walter. Have you seen his organization and cleaning skills? I'm telling you I would never have to lift another finger."
"I'd pick Walter, too, but that's just because I know his wife."
Jack's eyebrows rise, "Do I want to know what she said that made you like him?"
"Last Valentine's Day he gave her a 100-clue scavenger hunt that ended in a hot air balloon ride."
"I'm going to have to have a talk with him about setting the bar way too high for the rest of us."