Children of the Gods
Captain Samantha Carter couldn't sleep.
Of course, that wasn't saying much. She had never been able to sleep the day before a mission. It was a habit that went back to when she was a child. When her dad would have to go on a mission, the night before he left she would sit up, refusing to go to sleep. She had been afraid that she would miss seeing him off and would refuse to close her eyes, no matter how much her parents told her to rest.
Things had changed when Sam's mother had died. She had been torn apart then, seemingly in the middle of what was left of her splintering family. The first time that her father had had to leave for a mission, though it was only going to be overnight, Sam had not slept at all. What was different was that this time she was awake because she was afraid of losing her only other parent. She couldn't lose anyone else so soon, and had lain awake thinking the entire night.
It was a habit that had kept with her. All military personnel are told to try and sleep wherever and whenever they can; you never know when you're going to be able to rest next. So, like the good soldier, she had trained herself to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, all while still keeping a part of her mind conscious of that around her.
But she still couldn't sleep. And tomorrow, Captain Samantha Carter was going to finally go through the Stargate. It was what she had worked towards for years. And though the occasional doubt was in her mind, she was nothing but excited.
Which was why she was currently sitting in the control room, going over the data that they had collected the last time a team had gone to Abydos. Glancing up every once in a while brought a small smile to her face as she studied the stone ring.
She had fallen in love with a piece of alien technology. She really needed to get out more.
"Captain?"
Sam turned and jumped to her feet when she saw her new commanding officer walk up the stairs. "Sir!"
"Easy Carter," Colonel Jack O'Neill said, his hands in his pockets as he came to stand in front of her. "I'm not here to interrogate you. But what are you doing up? I would have thought you asleep, happily dreaming of physics or whatever it is you would dream about."
A smile tugged at her lips as she sat back down in her chair, Jack taking residency up in a chair recently vacated by a night watchman. "Just going over some data, sir."
His eyebrows raised. "Data? I thought everything was in working order?"
"It is. But I just needed something to do, I'm bored."
"That is why normal people sleep this early in the morning."
She chuckled. "Yeah, well, I've never slept before missions. Bad habit."
"Why?"
Sam stopped and glanced over at him. The man that she had clashed heads with only a while before was tilting comfortably in his chair, hands clasped behind his head, watching her. "Why don't I sleep?" She shrugged and turned to look out at the Stargate. "Like I said, just a bad habit. How about you sir? Shouldn't you be resting?"
Jack sighed. He hadn't been much of one for sleeping before missions either. It was a habit that began when he had first joined with the Air Force. Ever since his first mission, he had spent the night beforehand preparing. Of course the military supplies you with all of the information that you should need in the debriefing. But Jack always felt he needed to know every last thing about the mission objectives as well as the enemy and terrain. So he had spent one restless night drilling himself.
After years of going on missions, his habit of being awake the night before hadn't subsided. But he no longer studied the data until he felt like his brain was going to give out. So he now found himself wandering the lower levels of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, where he stumbled across his new second-in-command.
"I should," he conceded. "But we all know that I seem to have a penchant for disobeying orders."
She chuckled and leaned back in her chair. "You and I sir, are probably the two people in this whole mountain that need the most sleep. Yet here we are, wide awake."
He laughed quietly. "Yeah, well, guess we're more alike than we thought." He stood up and stretched. "Just make sure that tomorrow you're awake, alert and pointing your gun in the right direction and we'll get along famously."
Sam couldn't help but grin. "Good night, sir."
Jack nodded at her as he exited by the stairs, dragging his feet as he went. As far as he was concerned, he still had a problem with scientists. But maybe this one wasn't going to be so bad.
The End~
Story Notes: This is the first in my 'Unseen' series. There will be one story for every episode that focuses on Sam and Jack and hopefully captures a moment we didn't see between them. Kind of chronicling their relationship from the start in my own twisted way.
This hasn't been betaed, all mistakes are mine.
Feedback: Please! I hate to beg, but I could use the encouragement. Don't make me get on my knees!
E-mail: Writtenvoice38@Juno.com
This hasn't been betaed, all mistakes are mine.
Feedback: Please! I hate to beg, but I could use the encouragement. Don't make me get on my knees!
E-mail: Writtenvoice38@Juno.com
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]