The Virus

Chapter 8

..

She woke cold. It seemed they had both fallen asleep in the clearing and her clothing had become damp with the overnight dew. She had a crick in her neck from sleeping on a funny angle against the Colonel and she felt a rush of embarrassment as she realized they had slept together all night. Sure it wasn't like they had done anything inappropriate… but they were definitely crossing some kind of line.

"Morning," she mumbled and tried to extricate herself from his arms, but he just tugged her closer. "Uh, sir?" He cracked open one eye and looked down at her.

"Sorry," he released her and she sat up, rubbing her sore neck. The Colonel groaned and raised himself into a sitting position too. "I'm too old for this." He placed a hand on his lower back. If she wasn't already feeling guilty about sleeping in the arms of her CO she would have offered to give him a massage.

"I'm sore too." She admitted. They still hadn't met eyes and she assumed he was feeling uncomfortable with their current predicament too. "I should go find Cassie, she will be worried." She moved to stand but a hand on her arm stopped her. She turned her head slowly and met his eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his eyes searching hers for any sign that something wasn't right. She licked her lips nervously. She hadn't often cried in front of him and last night she had cried for a rather long time.

"I'm fine." She gave him a small smile and ducked her head. "Thanks for last night." She shifted uncomfortably. "I needed that." He let his hand travel down to her hand and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go.

"Always." The intensity in his tone made her heart begin pounding in her chest.

"I'll see you later." She responded, pleased her voice sounded calm considering the emotions trying to fight their way to the surface. She desperately wanted to slide over and wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him senseless. Instead, she rose to her feet and began folding her sleeping bag. He stayed sitting on the ground just watching her. She felt self-conscious and she gave him an awkward smile before heading away from him. Life could be so damn cruel.

..

Sam returned to a quiet camp. It must still have been early in the morning as there were few people up and about. She took the time to unzip her sleeping bag and hang it on their make-shift washing line. Cassie had made it between their tent and the Colonel's a few days ago. Before that they had been hanging clothes and towels off the strings attached to their tent.

"Sam is that you?" She heard Cassie's voice, a little muffled since she was still inside the tent. Sam unzipped the flap and crawled in, taking a seat on her side of the tent.

"Sorry did I wake you?" She looked at the sleeping girl and her heart felt full. Cassie's hair was so long now it was a tangled mess around her head, her sleepy brown eyes showed the relief at seeing Sam there. She must have been worried when Sam didn't return last night.

"It's okay," she yawned and slowly sat up. "Can I ask where you were last night?" Cassie began running her fingers through her hair as she spoke.

"I…" Sam pressed her lips together. "I was with… Colonel O'Neill." Her lips twitched into what probably looked like a grimace more than a smile and she covered her face in embarrassment. How would she explain what happened? She trusted Cassie to keep it to herself… but really was it fair to make her keep secrets?

"Oh," Cassie smirked. "In his tent?"

"Uh, no." She let out a nervous laugh. "We – uh – we went to do some star gazing. We accidentally fell asleep."

"Uh huh," Cassie finished finger brushing her hair and threw a cheeky grin in Sam's direction before crawling out of the tent.

"Nothing happened," Sam hurried to follow the girl. "It was just… I needed…" She trailed off. She had no idea what she was trying to say. "How was dinner?" Changing the topic would be the easiest option here. She set about collecting bits of wood from their little stockpile beside the tent and lit their fire so they could boil water for coffee. They really needed a gas cooker.

"It was great! I can't believe how much I missed real food…" Cassie prattled on about her evening and finished by telling Sam how they let her use the bathroom.

"Oh a shower! I am incredibly jealous." Sam laughed and began spooning coffee into three mugs. It wasn't until she had poured the boiling water into hers and Cassie's mugs that she realized she had made a coffee for the Colonel too.

"Good morning ladies." Perfect timing. She poured water in his mug too and she handed it up to him as he walked past.

"Morning," Cassie said brightly. She raised an eyebrow at him as he sat down on his log. Sam looked between the two trying to figure out their silent conversation. The Colonel cocked his head to the side and raised both his eyebrows in response. Cassie harrumphed and fussed around with their chilly-bin which they had taken to storing their food supplies in. "Ugh, what I would do for pancakes!" Cassie sighed as she set three bowls on the ground and began pouring cereal. "Looks like this is our last morning of cereal… and the coffee situation isn't looking too good either."

"I'll have a chat with General Hammond and see if we can go off-world shopping today." The Colonel told Cassie.

"Can I come?" The girl asked her eyes suddenly brightening.

"No way!" Sam answered before he had a chance to say anything. "It's not safe."

"Sam!" Cassie frowned. "You realize I'm technically an adult now right?"

"If you had military training then I'd let you go, but you do not." Sam told her firmly.

"I took a self-defence class." Jack was clearly trying not to laugh and failing miserably. Cassie was staring daggers in his direction and Sam decided her task would now lie at keeping the peace between the two of them.

"Look Cass… we will get you trained okay? I think it would be beneficial considering everything that has happened. But until then – you are staying right where you are." Cassie agreed grumpily and stormed off insisting she was having breakfast with Daniel. She threw a "at least he treats me like an adult" over her shoulder.

"Oh boy," the Colonel started laughing. "Go mommy!" Sam rolled her eyes and dug into her breakfast. She hated having to be so firm with Cassie but she was not willing to put the girl at risk. She may not be her mother but she was the closest thing to it.

"You were a great help." She found she was smiling though, his amusement at the situation was contagious. "Can I come shopping with you?" She gave him the puppy-dog eyes and he stared at her for much longer than necessary before answering, making her squirm.

"Sure, go get changed." He finally told her with a smirk.

"Yes Sir." She grinned. It would be nice to get off-world. She rinsed out her bowl and mug and suddenly had a thought as she watched him head towards his tent. "Hey, let's take Daniel." He turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised.

"You want to take an archaeologist shopping?"

"He's good with people." She told him.

"Fine, ask him then." He pretended to be grumpy but she knew he wanted the young man to join them.

..

Once she was dressed and had put on her heavy vest and slung her sidearm over her shoulder she poured water over their fire and sat on the log waiting for the Colonel to finish getting ready. She didn't have to wait long and had to stifle a laugh as he came hopping out of his tent tugging at one of his boots.

"Are you okay Sir?" He looked up, seeming surprised to see her and finally managed to pull his boot on properly.

"Fine." He grumbled and headed over to her. He sat down to tie his boots and she hid her smile by turning away and looking down the camp at all the other refugees. It was then she saw Daniel and she waved him over.

"Hey Daniel, we are going to head off-world to get supplies. Are you coming with us?" Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose and looked down at the two of them.

"Okay, coffee is top of the list." He smiled. "I'll go get changed and meet you at the gate."

"I guess we should get permission now?" She looked over at the Colonel.

"I'm sure he will agree. What can go wrong? It's SG-1 we're talking about here." They both laughed at this. Sure SG-1 had saved the world on more than one occasion – no exaggerations there either – but they also had a habit of getting themselves into very unusual situations to say the least.

TBC…