AU: When an exploration mission goes way off the left field, Jack and Sam are left to patch up their lives. Will that door stay open?

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters are the property of MGM/Amazon. No copyright infringement intended. I am once again taking my favourite two Gaters for a walk in an Alternate Universe. Takes place after 5.05 Red Sky with some canon episodes skipped (overlooked) and others referenced.

Rating: Mature. Contains dreamed sexual situations. Not explicit. Some foul language.

Chapter: Avoidance

2 days later - Jack

In the end, I didn't go home. Instead, I shared my time between the General's office, my office, and my quarters. As much as I hated the thought of being stuck in the mountain, I had a base to run in the General's absence.

Carter had Daniel, Teal'c, and Janet as well as any number of other people to help her. She didn't need her commanding officer. If it wasn't for me accepting the 2IC position when Samuels managed to get himself promoted to Chief Brownnoser at the Pentagon, I wouldn't even be her commanding officer right now. But there was no use dwelling on things that couldn't be changed.

Lieutenant Simmons had been very attentive, which was something I strived to not think about lest I loudly advertise my inner turmoil by tearing the young kid a new arse. Despite her outranking him by a lot, they were not in the same chain of command. There was nothing the Air Force could do to stop anything serious forming between them. Not that she would entertain anything with someone so young. Huh. Young. The age gap between them was half the difference between her and me. Yet for some reason… well, best not to dwell on that either.

"For crying out loud!" I cursed under my breath. I had been staring at the same requisition for medical supplies, my hand poised over the sign here line, for five minutes now. Squeezing my eyes shut in an attempt to realign my focus backfired. Instead of giving me some semblance of control, my mind was flooded with a myriad of images of Major Samantha Carter over the last two weeks. I missed her. God, had it only been two days? Two days of tedium. Two days without her smile, without her enquiring blue eyes, without hearing my name pass her lips, without watching her sleep, or touching her hand or kissing her. Dropping my pen, I ground the butts of my hands into my eyes. Stop. Thinking. About. Sam. Not Sam, Carter! Nope, that didn't help since calling her Carter was on par with calling her Sweetheart, or Honey or any number of other inappropriate endearments.

"Jack." I looked up at my name to see Daniel standing in the door way. I hadn't even heard the door open.

"What is it?" I responded sharply, picking up my pen and focusing on putting my signature on the line for the… whatever it was that Janet needed. He didn't say anything. I could feel his eyes burning into the top of my head. Looking up with a scowl, "Daniel?"

"Hi Jack, how are you? I'm great, thanks for asking." He said cheerily, crossing his arms over his chest giving me a pointed look that made me sigh. Fine. I'd do the nicey-nice thing.

Leaning my forearms on Hammond's desk, I summoned as much cheer as I could, "Hi Daniel. Glad you're doing alright, is that rock dust on your face?" I answered, motioning to his clean cheek.

His lip curled into half a smile. "Probably." He responded, then wiped the non-existent dust off his face. Looking at his hand, he smirked. "There was nothing on my face, was there?"

"Nope."

"What are you doing Jack?" He asked, plopping himself unceremoniously into one of the chairs.

"My job." I replied, then half nodded when he cocked his eyebrow at me, "Hammond's job… which is currently my job." I corrected. He looked at the empty in tray and the almost empty out tray.

"Right."

"Walter just came in and took a pile away this big." I motioned with my hands much like I did when I went fishing.

"Really?" He responded, giving me his 'I can't believe you said that' look.

"Yeah."

"Would that be the Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman who has been visiting Sam for the last thirty minutes?" He responded with a side smile. Damn. I hadn't even bothered to see if my alibi was in the control room. I just assumed since he was always there whenever I looked.

A knock on the still opened door interrupted our little 'catch-up' where Daniel pointedly did not ask me about Carter. Looking up, I found a very nervous Lieutenant Simmons standing to attention and looking at the back wall.

"Sir. Major Carter is asking for you." He announced.

"Is she?" I responded uneasily, shifting in my seat.

"Oh, sorry. Not you, Sir. Him. Doctor Jackson, Sir." He corrected, looking at Daniel.

Daniel chuckled, "Graham, it's just Daniel. You don't need to stand on ceremony with me." He said, coming to his feet, "What is the problem?"

"Oh, ah… Sam…" Giving him my Colonel face over his familiarity with a superior officer, "um… Major Carter." He corrected and looked at me nervously then back to Daniel. "An orderly could not get blue jello, so he got her red." He said with a nervous swallow. "She wants blue Sir, I mean Daniel."

"So, Lieutenant, get her some blue jello. They keep it for her at the mess on level 22." I explained to the young man who was impersonating a bundle of nerves. A state he only managed to enter when Carter was involved. The rest of the time, he had a remarkably clear head and a penchant for getting the job done at any cost, even if it nearly killed him. A little voice in my head reminded me that I was not much better, but I ignored it.

"I would Sir, you see, but she only wants it if one of you bring it." He explained. It was then that I noticed his left eye had become noticeably darker since he arrived.

"Lieutenant, did Major Carter do that?" I asked, already knowing the answer. He touched his cheek tenderly and winced then nodded.

"She really wants blue jello, Sir." He repeated.

"Ah, I see. Thanks Graham." Daniel responded and looked to me. The Lieutenant continued to stand in the doorway at attention until I waved him away with a nod and firm dismissed. "So." He said.

"So." I mirrored, staring back at him telegraphing a 'hell no' to his silent 'are you gonna do it' question.

"Jack, you can't avoid her forever."

"I'm not avoiding her, Daniel. I am being what I should have been from day one. Her CO." I said, picking up the medical requisition and chucking it in the out tray.

He scoffed, "You're being an ass, and you know it."

"I prefer to call it self-preservation." The sound of the black phone ringing thankfully interrupted Daniel's guilt trip. Picking it up before he could say anything else, "O'Neill." I barked down the phone, my eyes set firmly on his smirking face. The sound of Carter screaming blue murder lanced down the phone so loud that I had to pull the phone away from my ear.

"Sir!" Janet said clearly, "Is Doctor Jackson there?" Smash. More hollering. I desperately tried not to envision Carter going full metal jacket over coloured gelatine… in a bikini. Crap! I hated the timing of my vivid imagination sometimes.

"Maybe." I responded, giving the doctor in front of me a smirk when he rolled his eyes.

She huffed loudly down the phone, "I don't have time your…"

"Doctor. You may be…"

"Sir!" She interrupted my attempt to remind her who she was speaking to, "Unless you want to sign a 174 for Major Carter, I suggest you send Doctor Jackson back here with a damned blue jello!" She ordered over the top of the cacophony in the room, then she hung up.

"Wow." I said to no one in particular as I hung up the phone and looked at Daniel. "Totally not it."

"What is a 174?" Daniel asked, showing a little concern.

"LoC." I murmured, looking back at the phone. His raised eyebrows prompted me to provide more information. "Letter of Counselling. It's a less severe version of a Letter of Reprimand. Either way, it's not good."

"She has a brain injury Jack." He admonished. "You can't punish her for that."

"Unfortunately, the Air Force doesn't differentiate in that respect. All it takes is one person who doesn't understand complaining." I'd seen it before. Veterans sent mad by physical injury or PTSD. Hell, I had been one of them after Iraq. In fact, one of my many reprimands made been for laying out Cromwell when I returned home. I hadn't even talked to him or given him an opportunity to explain or apologise before putting him in the infirmary with a fractured jaw and three broken ribs. An opportunity I had still denied him three years ago. An opportunity missed indefinitely.

"Right. We are not finished this conversation." Daniel said, levelling a pointer finger at me as he turned and left.

"Looking forward to it." I responded to his back as he retreated out the door.

Leaning my head down on the empty desk, I closed my eyes. Damn, I was tired after two nights of less than stellar sleep. The bed in my quarters was too hard, the sheets too scratchy, the dream images of Carter too real, the nightmares of decades past missions too vivid.

The first clue that I had dropped off to sleep and was dreaming should have been the bright sunshine. Not something you generally find 27 levels under a mountain. Next, the crunching and grinding sound of two pairs of combat boots on gravel definitely should have given it away.

Failing both of those, the fact that I went from staring at my 2IC leaning against a broken dome, with that smile and those eyes – combined with that come hither vibe – looking just divine to being… oh God… to being balls deep inside her while her booted heels dug into the back of my thighs in a blink of an eye should have been a dead giveaway.

"Sir."

"I'm here. I'm here. No interruptions this time." I huffed into her ear, the squeaks, and sighs from her making me push harder and deeper just to hear them again.

"Ow…"

"What? Sorry!" I said slowing down.

It hadn't happened this way. Things were different then. Weren't they?

"No. The dome is rough. My elbows. Oh yes, yesss. Don't you stop. More." She demanded, pushing back harder, digging her heels in until I felt bruises form.

Barely a thought of being more comfortable and there we were in the infirmary, her kneeling on the bed facing away from me – both of us in surgical gowns – demanding that I not stop despite the location and potential for an audience. Calling me Sir. Urging me to go harder, faster, deeper. More. More. More.

"Sam… Carterrr!" I growled, barely holding on.

The next flash had her laying back on the briefing table, her blue dress skirt around her hips, legs over my shoulders, jacket, and shirt open and breasts on display. Three locations and positions and we hadn't skipped a beat. This was definitely a dream. A damn good one.

"Just a little, yes… right there… oh God Sir!" She cried. "Now! Now!" She screamed long and loud as she tipped over the edge, taking me with her.

The sound of a deep laugh rolling around us made me look up to see… no fucking way!

I jerked awake at Hammond's desk. Shit. It's back and it's here. In my head. No escape. That's what Daniel said. Was it back because of me? Because I had been avoiding her? Shifting in my seat, I felt something I had not experienced in over 30 years.

"For crying out loud." I cursed under my breath, looking down to see a tell-tale wet mark on the front of my BDU's. Of all the… dammit O'Neill! Maybe it was nothing, just a dream. Yeah, not real, even if the back of thighs were tender. Just a dream. I needed to clean up. Thankfully, the General had use of a much closer bathroom. Perks of being the Man. Small mercies, because the reason I was there was just plain embarrassing. Getting up to the sound of knees popping, I winced like I did after... after... just a dream O'Neill! I shook my head and adjusted my shirt to cover the worst of the mark and stalked to the bathroom.

Dropping my BDU's, I cleaned up as best I could but they were still cold and uncomfortable. Deciding to go commando in lieu of wearing sticky boxers, I had rolled them up and shoved them in my leg pocket. It wasn't until I was slipping my BDU's back on that I saw the marks. Two red and purpling splotches... on the back of my thighs, right where her boots... Nope! It was just a dream. Bodies do weird stuff like that all the time. It was psychosomatic I told myself as I buckled my belt and washed my hands.

"Jack." Her voice said. Looking up, I saw her reflection in the mirror behind me. "I want you, Jack. I need you. Please." She begged with that same look she wore in my dream.

"Carter." I shook my head and turned around, "What are you… Carter?" She was gone. Spinning around again, the mirror only reflected my image. "Oh kay. Going nuts there, old man." I murmured to myself when the feel of hands on my body, under my… no through my shirt. Massaging, smoothing, nails scraping. Teeth nibbling on my ear. "Holy… Whoa!" I jumped back waving my hands around. "What the hell?" I cursed, turning in a circle. Checking the cubicle, I found it was empty as was the shower recess. No Carter. But those were her hands.

Rubbing my hands over my face and through my hair. I left them on my head as I blew a long breath out trying to calm my racing heart rate. Thankfully after my dream, there was no physical evidence just yet of the arousal spreading through my body. Give me an hour though and… God, if this is what was happening to Carter on that planet, no wonder she jumped me. The fact that she lasted three days was a testament to her strength and determination to uphold the rules. I needed to find Daniel because I knew my strength where Carter was concerned was already in tatters and I couldn't afford to be replaying any part of that dream in real life.