The Trouble with Daniel...
Chapter Two: Sense and Security
Sam looks up at the sound of her name to see General O'Neill standing in her doorway, looking uncharacteristically serious. She turns away from her computer without a second thought, wondering what's wrong.
"Got a minute?" he asks, fiddling with something in his pocket.
"Of, course," she says, "What's up, sir?"
He shuts the door.
Sam freezes, and her heartbeat speeds up as her eyes flick between him and the door. Jack never shuts the door. Not when it's just the two of them. It's one of the unspoken rules they've never actually talked about.
"Uh… General?"
"There's something you need to see," he tells her, and hands over a thumb drive.
Sam looks at it stupidly for a moment, and then plugs it into her laptop. Whatever it is, if it's important enough for him to shut the door, it must be serious. Her mind races through various scenarios as she opens the folder to find several video files with alpha-numeric labels. Timestamps.
"Not that one," he stops her when she goes to open the first file. "It's the third one."
Sam shoots him a puzzled look as she double-clicks. She could swear he's enjoying himself.
But he shut the door. What the heck is going on?
The recording starts, and Sam recognises the room on her screen, "That's the Prometheus."
"Yup." He confirms, as a dark-haired woman in a skin-tight black catsuit walks into shot.
"I thought the intruder disabled the security feed?" Sam frowns as the woman finds the control crystal case and opens it. That was quick!
"Not exactly," he admits. "Hammond had Walter scrub the recordings."
Well, that explains why he shut the door. But if Walter deleted the security logs…
"How did you-" Sam starts to ask before she realises she knows the answer.
"Walter," they say together.
"What happened?" she asks him. "Why did General Hammond wipe the files?"
He tilts his head at her laptop in reply and Sam realises that at some point she stopped watching.
"Right," she says, turning back to the computer. "Wait, how did she get control of the system that quickly?"
"You tell me, Carter," Jack tells her, and pulls up a chair to watch her reaction to what's about to happen as Daniel walks onscreen. As always, Carter doesn't disappoint him. The second Daniel's access code fails, she figures it out.
"She must've forced a reset of the access code! That's why she went for the crystals."
"If you say so, Carter."
She frowns when Daniel turns back to the console, pursing her lips, and Jack can practically hear her chastising him for turning his back on an unsecured captive.
"Oh, wow!" she blurts when the Space Pirate kicks the gun out of Daniel's hand and punches him. A few moments later, "She fights dirty."
"Wait for it," advises Jack, remembering the fire extinguisher. Sure enough…
"Ouch!" Carter winces in sympathy.
She grimaces when Daniel crawls around the console, "Oh, c'mon Daniel, you're better than that!"
"Right?!" Jack agrees, "Thank you!"
Onscreen, the Space Pirate jumps on top of Daniel, straddling him, and pulls him upright. Carter frowns as the woman caresses Daniel's cheek, "What the- Really? Whoa! Holy Hannah!"
Yup, Carter sees it too.
"He kissed her back," Carter unnecessarily informs him.
"Oh, yeah." Jack knows how she feels.
"He liked her."
"Oh, yeah."
"Is he okay?"
"I just spoke to him," Jack tells her. "He says he's fine. Didn't whine about not getting to go to Atlantis at all."
"Really?"
"Really, really"
"Wow," Carter marvels. "He's got it bad."
"Oh, yeah!"
"So, who is she?" Carter wants to know.
Jack shrugs, "Who knows? Daniel's determined to find out though, he sent the Tok'ra a message from the Prometheus before he cleared it with Hammond," Carter winces, "And he was digging out his old diaries just now."
"Why the Tok'ra?" Carter asks him, and then answers her own question, "Because she's a former Host. Wow! He really does have a type, huh?"
"Right?" agrees Jack, holding up three fingers. Remembers Hathor with a grimace, and raises a fourth. Thinks about that particular incident a little more, and goes back to three.
"What did the Tok'ra say?"
"Nothing, so far."
"Do you want me to try contacting my Dad?" Carter offers.
"Sure, why not," shrugs Jack. "Daniel's probably already on his way down to ask."
Carter immediately closes her laptop and disconnects the thumb drive. Jack refuses it when she offers it to him, "Oh, no, no. That's your copy." He grins, "Enjoy."
"Um…" It's clear Carter's not comfortable with the idea. Jack raises an eyebrow at her and waits for her to remember he's her superior officer. It doesn't take her long, "Yes, sir."
She still not happy about keeping it, so Jack fiddles absently with one of the doohickeys on her desk and diffidently confesses why he wants her to have it, "I want you to start training Daniel in hand-to-hand."
"Me, sir?"
"You, sir."
Carter's eyes narrow, "You think she'll be back."
"Daniel seems to think he'll never see her again."
"Sir," Carter smiles indulgently at him. "There's no such thing as jinxes."
"Yeah," Jack disagrees. "Right." He drops the doohickey and stands, "Either way, better safe than sorry."
"Uh, sir?" Carter stops him halfway to the door. "Do I have to tell him?"
She knows him so well, Jack can't help but smile, "Already did," he reassures her. "You start first thing tomorrow."
"Thanks, sir," she smiles back at him.
Jack finely honed sense of danger reminds him that the door is shut. He opens it. Is all the way through it before he remembers what her smile made him forget. He turns back to tell her, "One more thing, team night, tonight."
"Tonight?" she questions, and Jack realises she might already have plans. With Pete.
"Problem?" he asks.
"No, sir," she's quick to reassure him. "Wait, isn't Teal'c off-world with Ishta?"
"He'll be back," Jack tells her, checking his watch see if he's got time for cake first.
Right on cue, Daniel arrives, "Jack."
"Hello, Daniel," Jack greets him.
"Have you seen Teal'c?" Daniel wants to know.
"Off-world," replies Jack.
"Oh," Daniel looks crestfallen. "Well, when's he due back?"
"Soon," Jack informs him.
Daniel frowns, "How soon?"
Jack ignores him, turning back to Carter to tell her, "Nineteen hundred hours, Carter. Bring beer."
Jamming his hands in his pockets, Jack ambles off in the direction of the elevators, in search of cake. Daniel stares after him for a moment, still frowning, before he turns to Sam.
"Hey, Daniel," she says brightly, aiming for casual as the thumbdrive burns in her pocket. "Heard you were back."
"Is it just me, or is he getting worse now he's in charge?" asks Daniel.
He is, but he's also her superior officer. Sam ducks the question, "Did you need me for something?"
"Oh, yeah actually," remembers Daniel. "I was wondering if you've spoken to Jacob lately?"
Sam grins. Of course he was…