AN: During Upgrades

"You should expect to see changes in speed, strength and other natural abilities. We will be monitoring your progress on speed and strength, but if you notice other improvements, please report them immediately," Anise finished as she released Jack into the wild with his new super-hero armband.

Looking across the room, Jack caught Carter finishing up an over head stretch, and some downright filthy ideas entered his head.

"So, did you say this would enhance all of my natural abilities?"

"Goodnight Daniel," Sam answered.

"Night Danny," Colonel O'Neill echoed.

Sam had a vague feeling that she should feel badly about how they had left O'Malley's, but she couldn't make sense of it.

"Call me crazy, but I could eat again," Colonel O'Neill mused from across the room.

"Thank you! I thought it was just me," Sam justified. She was hungry in other ways too, but there was no way she was going to bring up that symptom. Janet had said their hormone panels were a little off.

"Not just you. I'm also really..."

"Sir?"

"Never mind. How's the book coming along?" he asked.

"Just finished the first proof," she answered closing her laptop and standing to stretch out her shoulders.

"Want me to read it?"

"Do you want to?" she asked. Ever since Edora the Colonel had taken a more active interest in her work, both in the field and on base. It was the sort of interest that would have made her give a guy a second look. But Sam had lost count of the number of looks she had given Colonel O'Neill so there really wasn't a need for him to try to impress her.

"Somebody's going to have to write the foreword right, and I figure I can knock it out in about 10 minutes with this thing?" he gestured toward his armband.

"And you want to do it?" she asked skeptically as she entered the sitting area where he had kicked back. She didn't sit though, just leaned her back against the cold concrete wall next to his chair.

"Just saying. I'm here if you need me."

"Thank you, Sir, but I think it might be better if someone in the field of wormhole physics wrote the foreword."

"Isn't that just sort of... you?" he asked with a wave of his hand toward her.

"Well, maybe astrophysics at least," she hedged.

"Well, if you need an engineer, you let me know," he offered.

"Engineer? Really?"

"Yep, I can build stuff and do math. Just don't tell the others, huh?" he asked with a silencing finger to his lips.

"That makes sense. You're good with your hands," Sam was a little embarrassed as the double meaning of her words occurred to her, but she couldn't regret saying it. Not for the first time, she thought about how his hands were always busy. She thought about how his dexterous fingers liked to push and pull and squeeze and rub. It was always something different, but they were always in motion. And not for the first time, she thought about those same hands on her person, doing all of the things she watched them do every day.

Jack heard something change in her voice. She seemed to slow down as if she was thinking about it while she was saying it. Something pulled him out of his chair toward her. He stopped himself from advancing any further with a palm on the wall just next to her head. She wasn't quite trapped. He left her a way of escape on one side.

"As if you would know," he dared her with an arched eyebrow. "Not that I would mind giving a demonstration. Apparently, all of my natural abilities have been enhanced so now would be a great time for you to conduct an experiment, as it were."

"But," Jack watched her tongue dart out to lick her lips, "We would need to set up some controls." Her eyes were flashing—looking from his eyes to his mouth and back again. She wanted him to kiss her.

"Oh, there would be no control in this experiment. In fact, there would be a profound lack of control. Yours, to be specific," he promised her as he traced the line of her jaw with his free hand. Jack watched her eyelids shutter and her lips part. "Whadda ya say, Dr. Carter? For science?" Jack leaned closer as her eyes opened to catch his. They looked different up close—more trusting, more inviting.

"Colonel..." Carter breathed. He had never heard his rank whispered so enticingly. Oh God... his rank.

"Oh God," Jack retreated to the opposite side of the room, running his fingers through his hair. "I don't know what happened, I just—"

"It's the armbands," she shifted the blame as she tucked her arms around her core and looked away. "I think it's affecting our judgement."

"Carter," he turned to face her from a safe distance. She was still standing there, leaning against that damn wall where he had been moments away from kissing her. She would be well within her rights to report him for misconduct. "I didn't... I hope you know that I would never... I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We're not ourselves right now." She was being generous with him, he knew that. "Let's just forget it," she offered. But he didn't want to forget it. He couldn't forget it. He wouldn't forget it.