Weak Link
Pete Shannon could never entirely explain why he had fallen so hard for Samantha Carter. He'd always considered himself a confirmed bachelor, but there was something about her ... Sure she was beautiful, but there were plenty of pretty girls out there. Smart without a doubt...not to mention the great sex ... All Pete knew was that a couple of weeks after meeting her, he had started talking in terms of forever. Sam herself was vague on the subject but he was prepared to wait. Now that he knew what her job entailed he could understand her reluctance to make a lasting commitment.
Sure he worried about her a lot, but there was no way he was going to interfere, not again. Sam had been pretty pissed about that, and Pete couldn't exactly blame her. It had been a dumb move...not to mention potentially lethal. Actually he was kind of glad that he had been the one to get hurt. He would never have forgiven himself if it had been Sam. And Sam would never him if one of her team mates had been injured.
Pete grinned at the photo that adorned his desk. In less than twenty-four hours he'd have the real thing in his arms. He was such a sap, but life right now was pretty damn good.
"Hey Shannon!" his partner's voice broke into his contemplation of Sam.
"Stop staring at the girlfriend and do some work!" the other man went on.
"Bite me," Pete returned.
But he did pick up the bulky padded envelope that had landed on his desk. He wondered exactly how long he had been staring into space...but he decided he didn't actually care and opened the package. Inside were a second envelope and a note.
'Open this in private'
Was all it said. Pete was immediately suspicious, but he figured the package must have gone through all the standard security checks. He slipped it into his briefcase to look at when he got home. Pete had intended to leave the envelope there until he returned from Colorado Springs, but his curiosity got the better of him. That evening he opened a beer and sat down to examine the contents of the envelope. Some photos, a videotape, and a couple of reports; both of which were adorned with the SGC logo. There was also another note.
'If this bothers you, call me,' and a phone number.
Slightly concerned, Pete turned the TV on and slipped the tape into the VCR. He wasn't surprised to see Sam appear on the screen. He'd already figured that this had to have something to do with her. It looked like she was being interviewed by someone. A male voice asked her,
"How do you feel about Colonel O'Neill?"
At first, Pete wasn't overly concerned by what he heard. Sam had mentioned Colonel O'Neill on several occasions, often in exasperation at his childish behaviour. However, if this tape was anything to go by, she had nothing but praise for him. It was the question about opposites attracting that really bothered Pete. He could see where the line of questioning was leading and he wasn't exactly overjoyed by the way Sam answered. She never once mentioned the fact she had a boyfriend...which would have closed the subject there and then. Neither did she exactly deny the fact that there were deeper feelings between herself and her commanding officer. Not that she admitted anything either...
Pete shook his head. This was nuts. There was just no way Sam would put herself in that position. She was a by the book officer even if O'Neill was something of a maverick. Moving on, Pete picked up the photos, half a dozen in all. The first couple had to have been taken a few years back; O'Neill's hair was brown and not grey.
In the first, Sam was wearing a black dress. She and O'Neill were standing outside a house. Her hand was resting on his arm and the two of them were having a deep conversation. The second had been taken in the park close to Sam's house. Pete recognised it immediately, the two of them had wandered through it on many occasions. Sam had never shown any desire to play on the swings, however. The photo had been taken mid-swing; Sam with a much younger Cassandra, O'Neill looking on with a dog in his arms. It was hardly incriminating. Circumstantial, Pete reasoned, nothing more.
The next picture caused him a little more concern. It seemed to be a capture from a security video and as such the quality wasn't great. Still, Pete had no trouble making out Sam and O'Neill with their arms wrapped around each other. Odd thing was, Sam had long hair...
Trying to ignore the seeds of doubt, Pete turned to the next one. This one had been taken at a restaurant. Pete didn't recognise it, but if the two of them were conducting an illicit affair they weren't going to eat out at popular locations. There was a third chair at the table, but it was unoccupied. Sam looked fantastic. She was wearing a red high necked sweater under a black leather jacket and her face was alive with laughter. The next shot had been taken at the same location. Sam was playing pool and O'Neill was definitely checking out her ass. Pete felt his heart give a painful lurch.
The final photo had to have been taken during an Earth based mission. The scene was crowded with police and medics but Pete could make out O'Neill's prone form as he was lifted into an ambulance. Sam was right there next to him. Pete went and got himself another beer. Why the hell was someone going out of their way to try to prove that Sam was involved with her commanding officer? She certainly appeared to have made some enemies in high places.
Pete still wasn't a hundred per cent convinced so he opened the first of the two reports. He didn't recognise the name of the scientist who had written it and most of the details passed him by. There were a couple of salient points. Firstly, Colonel O'Neill had gone missing and secondly Sam's behaviour had become very erratic.
He almost didn't read the final report...almost. The details behind the testing of an alien device seemed completely irrelevant. Pete was flicking through the final pages when he caught the words,
'Care about her a lot more than I'm supposed to.'
He realised whatever Sam might feel, however innocent, those emotions were reciprocated and more.
And he had no idea what he was going to do about it.
************************************************************************************
"What do you think this is about?" Jack asked as Sam joined him in the briefing room.
She shrugged, "No idea."
"There wasn't a memo?"
"No, sir."
Jack grinned and Sam smirked back. She was in a good mood, he realised. It was probably Pete related, but for once he didn't care. Right now it wasn't him she was smiling at. However, their mood quickly altered when Hammond finally appeared. The general was definitely not happy about something and Jack realised that any smart ass comments weren't likely to be well received.
"Aren't we going to wait for Daniel and Teal'c?" he asked.
"No," Hammond replied, "this concerns the two of you."
Now Jack was really worried. He was trying to think of something himself or Carter might have done, but was coming up blank. They'd both been fairly harmless recently. Carter had avoided blowing up the SGC and he hadn't insulted any alien diplomats...what else could possibly be wrong?
"Sir, if this is about the cake..." Carter began.
"No, on the contrary, I found that amusing, although you'll understand why I couldn't give any to my grandchildren," the general assured them with a hint of a smile.
"Then what?" Jack demanded.
"The President has recently been advised as to the existence of the Stargate program. I have been reliably informed that your names came up during that discussion."
"Cool!"
"Not in this case."
"Oh."
"Vice President Kinsey made certain accusations regarding your non-professional relationship. He doesn't have much evidence to go on but..."
"What?" Carter exclaimed.
"Son of a..."
"Take this as a friendly warning. The two of you will have to exercise a degree of caution with regards to your personal lives. I am advising you to be more discreet."
"General, surely you don't think the colonel and I are..." Carter began.
"...doing the wild thing?" Jack finished the sentence for her.
Hammond just looked at them for a moment, before realisation dawned.
"You're telling me your relationship is completely professional?"
"Damn straight!"
"What did you think sir?" Carter asked.
"I had it filled under don't ask, don't tell," Hammond admitted. "To be honest, I'm relieved."
Jack wasn't. All this time, he and Carter could have been...a booted foot made contact with his shin. Damn woman always knew what he was thinking.
"Is there anything else, sir?" Jack asked, trying to make like nothing had happened.
"No," the general said.
"If it makes you feel any better, sir, I'm still seeing Pete," Carter added.
"I'm glad to hear it, major. You're dismissed."
The two officer's stood to attention as the general left, then Jack turned to her,
"How is Pete?"
"Fine, He's coming over this weekend," she admitted.
Sam never volunteered any information about her relationship, he always had to ask.
"Look, do the two of you want to come over Saturday night? Teal'c wants to barbecue...we'll invite Hammond too. Should convince him that you and I aren't..."
"Having wild monkey sex?"
"Not exactly what I was going to say."
"Sounds great, sir. The barbecue part."
"Cool. See you about 1930."
"We'll be there."
Of course as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Jack had the urge to hit his head against the nearest wall. He didn't want to see Sam with Pete. If they started holding hands and kissing, he was going to vomit on their shoes. He also had to persuade the others they wanted to eat half burnt, half raw food in his back yard. Sometimes it was tough to be the nice guy.
*************************************************************************************
Sam dressed with a certain amount of care on Saturday night. It was the end of summer but the evenings were still warm. She wanted to look nice for Pete, on the other hand she didn't want to give the colonel a heart attack. Sam actually felt kind of bad for him. She knew the fact she was seeing someone couldn't be easy for him. Okay, so in her mind, he had given her permission to move on, but whether he felt that way in reality she didn't know.
Their relationship had eased over the past few months. There had been more hugs, more jokes. The way it had been in the beginning, before the damn Zaytarc testing. Part of the change had been because of Pete. Sam was aware that, now everyone on the base knew she had an official boyfriend, they weren't going to be so focused on what she and the colonel were doing. At least, that was what she had thought. Sam admitted that Hammond's questions had unnerved her.
It was nice of the colonel to invite her and Pete over. Although Pete hadn't seemed overjoyed at the idea, she'd assured him they could leave early if necessary. Since they lived so far apart no one would question their desire to be alone together. Sam had to admit it would also be nice to spend some time with her friends. Since she had been seeing Pete she had hardly seen them outside the base. She tried not to think of the friend who was no longer with them.
"Sam are you ready yet?" Pete's voice called from the living room.
Sam had no misconceptions about his apparent eagerness. The sooner they left, the sooner they could come home, was his reasoning. Sighing to herself, she pulled a non-descript shirt on and headed out of the bedroom.
"Ready," she smiled, bending down to kiss him.
Pete looked her up and down. She could tell he was puzzled by her attire.
"It may get cold later," Sam explained.
"Okay, let's get this over with," he said.
"Be nice."
"Sorry."
Sam drove. It wasn't fair to ask Pete to get through the evening without a drink. She'd told Pete to play nice, but she could only hope the other guys would do the same. They were like her family. A team of brothers who would be far more of a test than her own blood relatives.
They arrived at exactly 1930 and the colonel opened the door. He shook Pete's hand and showed them through to the yard. Sam breathed a little easier. So far, so good. But Sam's nerves didn't really ease as the evening wore on. Pete wasn't his usual self. In fact he was downright surly and it all seemed to focused towards the colonel. Sam couldn't understand it. The colonel was doing his best to be polite, but she could tell that his patience was running thin. Sam's nerves were being worn to a shred and she realised it was time to leave.
The colonel had taken refuge in the kitchen. He was standing with his back to the door, arms braced on the work surface.
"Sir," Sam said, quietly.
His shoulders straightened and he turned to face her.
"Carter, you leaving?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry about..."
"No sweat."
"He must have a bad case or something."
"And he didn't tell you? That's a little unfair."
"Sir..."
"I mean you told him everything."
"Please."
"Sorry."
She knew how hard this had been for the colonel. He had every right to be a little cranky.
"He's not the right guy for you, Carter," he went on.
"Yes, he is. Right here, right now, he is."
The colonel looked at her and Sam returned his gaze, hoping he'd understand. His fingers touched her face and she couldn't help leaning into the caress.
"Okay," he whispered, "you always were the smart one."
Sam smiled as she pulled herself away. It was time to go home.
*************************************************************************************
Pete had seen everything. He'd followed Sam into the house. Stood at the door while she'd talked to O'Neill. They hadn't even seen him. They didn't have eyes for anyone else. He felt sick to the stomach. Sam was using him, there was no other explanation. As he lay in bed beside her, Pete weighed up his options. He could leave now and never see her again, but somehow that option wasn't an attractive one.
Trying not to disturb her, Pete climbed out of bed. This was wrong on so many levels. His bitterness was almost palpable. She was screwing him at the weekends, O'Neill during the week...and yeah it bothered him. Finding his pants, Pete felt in the pocket. The paper was there. Leaving the bedroom, he went through to kitchen and switched the light on...far enough away that he wouldn't wake Sam up. Picking up the phone, he dialled the number. Even though it was late it didn't ring for long before someone answered.
"Kinsey."
"Sir, this is Pete Shannon."
THE END
Story Notes: How I would use Pete in further episodes :):)
Email: ruth@snowqueen.demon.co.uk
Email: ruth@snowqueen.demon.co.uk
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 ]