AN: Still During Threads.

"Hi, Sir," Jack looked up to see Carter in his doorway looking a bit less than confident. Jack wondered if it was their situation or him that was making her uneasy. Or if she was simply rethinking things and had come to tell him to forget the whole thing. As proud as he was of her for calling it off with someone who wasn't right for her, the fact remained. She had done it for herself, not for him, which kind of left his position up in the air until she figured out what she wanted.

"Carter," he answered.

"I, uhh, brought you some breakfast. Sergeant Harriman said you didn't have anything until later this morning, and I thought it would be quieter up here. I hope that's all right."

"Yeah, just gimme a minute to finish this," he gestured to the file he was reading. "I'll be right there." Jack watched an awkward little smile cross her face before she turned to the briefing room, leaving him alone in the office.

Jack stared absently at the file that had served as his excuse. It's not that he didn't want to have breakfast with her. It was their routine—a regular thing that happened several times every week. But this wasn't regular. This wasn't routine. This was very cool. Excellent, even. He needed a minute to get his head in the game. Jack smiled a little, and flipped his folder shut, dancing his fingers across it in some disorganized steps. Time to go act normal, disinterested, detached. Time to pretend that the woman out there hadn't melded her body to his last night while they slept. It was time to be covert.

"Not much other use for this room for the next few days, I hope," Jack remarked as he sat down next to Sam at the briefing room table and popped open his breakfast box.

"Yeah, it seems like things are calming down a little. I don't wanna jinx it, but it might even start to get quiet." Jack watched as she popped a grape into her mouth—the same mouth that he had kissed just a couple of hours ago.

"I think what you want and what you've just done are two distinctly different things, Colonel."

"Oops," she gave a little shrug and a smile. She looked happy. No, that wasn't quite right. Her eyes looked happy. Maybe that was the part of her that would give them away first. At least he hoped so. They looked clear and soft and directly at him, in contrast to the pain and avoidance he'd read in them last night. He could get used to today's eyes.

"Nevertheless, maybe I'll take that vacation after all," Jack commented remembering their discussion the last time they had a meal together at this table. Time for another fishing expedition—fishing around in Carter's head. Maybe he could finally get Carter and her soft eyes to go with him. "It's been a while."

"It has," Sam waited, not wanting to change the subject. She was waiting for him to point out the fact that she still owed him two weeks of time off since she had cancelled the leave she scheduled for the wedding. She took another bite and waited, but he didn't continue.

"Thanks for coming over last night," she picked up finally after glancing around the area to check for bystanders. "Sorry I wasn't quite myself. I guess everything kind of hit me all at once. It's easier not to think about it when the world is falling apart."

"And then all of the sudden, the world wasn't falling apart."

"Yeah, but mine still was," she explained, toying with her scrambled eggs. "And then it wasn't." Sam looked up to exchange a satisfied look with him. There wasn't much she could say here in the briefing room, but she wasn't sure what else she would have said if she could.

"You're welcome," he answered softly. Sam was quickly growing fond of these staring contests, but she knew they shouldn't be having them here in the briefing room.

"Oh, before I forget," she fished into her pocket under the table, and pulled out a chain—his dog tags that had tangled up with hers on the nightstand last night while he held her. He had been tempted by her lips, her body, her self, but by some miracle, he had just held her. He wasn't entirely sure he could pull off that trick for very much longer if she continued crawling into bed with him. "Oops?" she offered again with a shrug.

"Off to a great start, aren't we?" he asked as he accepted the token that reminded him whose property he was and slipped it into his own pocket.

"Could have been worse," she smiled, and diverted her attention back to her breakfast. "So, vacation, huh? Finally going to trust Reynolds with the base now that you've rid the galaxy of bad guys?"

"Maybe. It might be time to go do some living."

"As opposed to what?"

"Being alive," he answered, remembering Jacob's words to him. I don't want her to just be alive. I want her to live a life. Likewise, Jacob. Sam looked up, pondering his response as she nibbled an apple slice. It wasn't like Jack hadn't tried to get her to see the difference before, but this was Carter. She learned things on her own time. Most of the time that meant really, really fast. But sometimes, when it came to the softer sciences, she took a little longer. Jack watched the little crinkle in her brow as she broke down his words. She was probably diagramming the parts of speech to try to figure out the riddle. But it wasn't a riddle. Sam smiled an indulgent smile, as if she didn't get it, but she was too kind to say anything about it. He knew she understood it, but she didn't believe it. At least, not yet.

"You wanted me, Sir?" Carter asked. Did he ever. How anyone had the nerve to stand there in his office doorway twice in one day making BDUs look that damn hot, he would never know, but here she was. The sheer audacity was immeasurable.

"Colonel, come in," he gestured as he flipped a file closed and gave her his attention. She moved to take a seat. "Don't!" he barked, and she froze. "You don't wanna sit in that chair."

"Sir?"

"Daniel," he reminded her of Daniel's reappearance in the corporeal world, and where he had landed in all his naked glory.

"Oh, God. Eww."

"I requisitioned new ones. I just haven't gotten Walter up here to get rid of them yet."

"Going to need a new flag too," she mused hooking her finger over her shoulder. Moving around his desk, she stood beside his chair.

"Is this safe?" she asked gesturing toward the edge of his desk. Jack found her eyes, with a look that told her that she knew it was anything but safe. This covert thing might end up being a little more challenging than he had anticipated.

"Suit yourself, Colonel," he answered. Sam's eyes danced and she propped her butt up against some files. Then suddenly she was all business with feet crossed at the ankles and arms crossed to match.

"You don't call me that," she remarked quietly, with shifty eyes toward each of his open doors.

"What?"

"You call me Carter. You're over-correcting with the Colonel business," she pointed out. Damn it, she was right. Jack had thrown her new rank out a couple of times as a proud novelty shortly after her promotion, but she had been Carter for years—at least on base, she was Carter.

"Oops?" he offered by way of admission.

"What did you wanna see me about?" she asked. All of the inappropriate answers to the question were on the tip of his tongue before he snapped back to reality.

"Go home," he ordered shortly.

"Sir?"

"Go home. Daniel's back. He's going to be in the infirmary all day getting poked and prodded. Teal'c and Bra'tac are going back to Dakara. There's nothing for you to do here. I need you to take a couple of days off." He wasn't going to risk her wrath by telling her that she needed to deal with what she'd been through this week, but she was a smart woman. That said, she'd probably spend her time off working on some damnable side project.

"But it's boring at home," she argued with a petulant little pout that he wanted to devour.

"You didn't seem bored last night," he observed. Oh yeah. This was definitely going to be more challenging than he thought.

"I had better company than my books last night." Neither the woman nor the grin she was threatening to show him were helping. Jack gave a little cough and opened his file again. Her hip prevented it from lying flat, and with a lingering gaze, he wondered if she was still wearing that lace on her hips that he had toyed with this morning—the lace that he hadn't seen yet.

"Carter, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here," he answered sliding his file further away from her tempting self.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Actually, yes."

"Why?" Sam sounded a little offended, but he had expected that.

"Because you're sitting on my inbox," he answered as if it were obvious and the only possible reason. Sam uncrossed her arms and ran her eyes over every visible part of him with a little nibble to the corner of her mouth.

"And will you be thinking about my ass when you open the next one... Sir?" she asked quietly as she reached behind her back to tease a manilla corner.

"Yes, but that's nothing new," Jack answered not falling into her trap. "Now go. You can come back on Monday, and I don't want to hear that you're calling the lab for updates on whatever they're doing. And I will check." Sam headed toward the door and turned to say goodbye.

"I guess, I'll see you on Monday, Sir." It was a tease of course. She was going to see him tonight. Sam bit down on her lip to contain her smile. The dare in her eyes was a new expression to him, and it was hard not to respond to it.

"I guess you will, Carter."