She sighed.
This must have been the seventh time he had interrupted her work in the few hours since he returned to base. And each time he asked basically the same question.
Sure, she found it endearing – hell, even cute – that he kept stopping by just to make sure she was okay. And sure, she found it annoying as hell that he asked the same damn question – or made a statement relating to the question, and she knew that that was the *only* reason he was pestering her.
So she sighed again – just to make sure he knew how much this irritated her – before dropping her pen, swivelling towards him and smiling brightly.
"*What* is it that you don't understand, sir?" She was proud of the lack of irritation in her tone, especially after repeating the same statement for the seventh time.
He scrunched up his nose and dipped his eyebrows in an otherwise endearing gesture before relaying a vague explanation in his most whiny tone:
"The touching hands deal."
She let her sigh out slowly through her nose and watched him with motherly curiosity as he reached for the pen she had recently laid down. She only managed to refrain from batting his hand away as she saw the genuine, childish confusion at the beaded gift Cassie had bought her.
"What about the touching hands deal?" She asked slowly, in the tone she reserved for her niece and nephew.
He looked up at her from the page of one of her readouts that was now graffitied with Jack O'Neill doodle, and frowned in confusion. It took a whole four seconds for him to register that she was referring to his earlier statement.
"Well," he started, "if I was infected, and I touched your hand," he reached out and brushed his fingers over the back of her hand. "And you were cured, that would mean I would be cured too?" His left eyebrow twitched as he tried to make sense of what he said.
"That's right."
She felt like giving him a round of applause.
"Right. And the…disease is spread by touch?" She nodded. "Then how come I don't pass the disease back to you?" He raised his right eyebrow in question as he pointed the end of the pen at her.
"Well, it's quite simple really," she began and then faltered as she thought of the answer.
He looked at her expectantly. The raised eyebrows, the mischievous glint in his eye, the curve at the corner of his lips as he tried not to laugh and the slight twitch of his head showed he knew he had her stumped.
She sat for a few minutes questing for the answer and watching the muscles in his face draw his features into oh-so-familiar expressions.
When she realised she couldn't find the answer she shook her head and raised her eyebrows to show her defeat.
"Now there's a thought for you," he announced as he tossed her pen in the air and laid it down on her desk before pivoting on his heel and leaving her lab, grinning all the way.
"Sam leaned over to retrieve her pen and former read-out. Her eyes scanned the doodles and she smiled at his invitation:
"Cake. Commissary. 1400."
She smiled and nodded before turning back to her report, thinking all the while about the touch cure and Jack O'Neill's querying mind.
TE
Story Notes: Spoilers: Sight Unseen
Archive: My site (http://gater101fiction.tripod.com), Helio, fanfiction.net, Carterfic, Jackfic, Samandjack.net please!!
A/N: Continuing with the episode additions here, but now trying to keep them in cannon! Also, if the answer to the question posed in this fic was explained in the episode, sorry. But it bugged me and I've only seen it once so I can't quite recall what was said about it!
Archive: My site (http://gater101fiction.tripod.com), Helio, fanfiction.net, Carterfic, Jackfic, Samandjack.net please!!
A/N: Continuing with the episode additions here, but now trying to keep them in cannon! Also, if the answer to the question posed in this fic was explained in the episode, sorry. But it bugged me and I've only seen it once so I can't quite recall what was said about it!
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 ]