Contact
"Just go away!" O'Neill could barely restrain himself from bodily removing the nurse from his presence. Yes he was hurt, yes he needed medical attention but it had been taken care of and now all he wanted was to be left alone. Daniel was still there as he had been for most of the time the medical staff were abusing him.
Just at that moment Carter walked in, buoyant as usual. "How's the arm?"
He honestly didn't feel like answering but somehow Carter's presence made him feel a little bit better. "Good." He managed to speak with just a tiny grunt. "How's the science project?"
She looked back at him surprised he assigned such little importance to her task. "You mean my complete overhaul of the gate diagnostic system?" She said it with more irritation in her voice than she intended to show.
"I guess that's what I mean."
She softened a bit when she saw he truly hadn't meant to demean her. The man had been hurt after all and from the looks of it was still hurting and was putting up a front just for her. She hadn't missed how he spoke to the nurse even though Daniel was right in the room. "It's going well, Sir. Thank you for asking."
Daniel was fidgeting; he obviously had something on his mind. "Er, if we go back to this planet, you're not coming with us are you?"
Sam grimaced internally, she hoped to God that wasn't why Daniel was hanging around, just to get something from O'Neill.
The Colonel shifted in his seat and glanced down at his shoulder and the sling his arm was now in. "It's doubtful."
"That's too bad. I was kinda hoping you'd take command of this mission."
O'Neill knew the reason but gave him a nod to continue. Daniel glanced at Sam then back to O'Neill. "Colonel Edwards has no experience dealing with the Unas."
O'Neill wasn't going to let him off so easily. "Nor you." He paused and shifted to a more comfortable position. "He's an okay guy, Daniel. He's just under a lot of pressure."
Daniel wasn't convinced. "Yeah, I guess I spent a lot of time breaking you in, I just didn't want to start with a new Colonel."
Carter couldn't hide her grin. It was funny how Daniel liked to pull the Colonel's chain sometimes, even funnier that he was serious about what he'd said.
O'Neill noted that grin with annoyance. "It'll be fine." As Daniel turned to leave he added, "Just try not to be so..."
"What?"
He couldn't come up with the right word just then. "You know." He didn't wait to see the shrug he knew was coming and turned on his side to cradle his still aching shoulder. He tried to hold it back but a groan escaped his lips.
When he heard the swishing of fabric and rattling overhead hooks he thought Carter had gone as well, the nurse must have pulled the curtain around to give her ill-tempered patient some privacy.
He closed his eyes and hunkered down further in the bed, intent on shutting himself away from the world for a little while even if sleep was out of the question. Another noise alerted him that he was not alone and he cautiously opened one eye.
Carter had moved to the other side of the bed, where he was now facing, and placed one of the infirmary's molded plastic chairs at his bedside.
"Carter, what are you doing? I thought you had diagnostics to get back to."
Aha, she thought, a four-syllable word slipped out when he let his guard down. Cassie had him figured out but good.
"Actually, I've got some time," she lied and crossed her fingers one of the technicians wouldn't come looking for her. " I thought you might like some company for awhile."
"I'm not in the best humor right now, as you may have noticed, you don't have to stay."
She scooted the chair over closer and sat down. "I know. Maybe I could tell you what I've been doing, it'll put you to sleep for sure."
He couldn't help but smile. "Teal'c teaching you some 'Jaffa' humor?"
She smiled back and began to fiddle with the edge of the sheet. "No, I just know how you are about 'techno babble'."
He put his left hand on the bed in front of him. "Is that a technical term?"
"Absolutely."
Neither spoke for a few minutes, it was nice just to sit and be together.
"So."
She looked at him questioning. "What?"
"You were going to put me to sleep."
"Oh, well," she flushed a bit for no reason and resumed smoothing out the wrinkles in the sheet, moving her hand up closer to his. "I'm not much good at bedtime stories."
He smiled again, putting 'bedtime' and 'Carter' together made for a quite pleasant thought. He reached his hand out an inch and touched hers. "'S'okay, you don't have to say anything."
She glanced at where their hands were still in contact and then up and around the area. She was sitting with her back to the curtain and the Colonel's body was blocking the view from the other side of the infirmary. As long as she remained seated she was almost completely concealed.
She looked back at the hand that had still not moved away from hers and then into his deep brown eyes for only a split second before turning her hand and moving it into his.
His mouth gave a little twitch and he squeezed her hand gently. Without warning he suddenly felt the urge to yawn and when he moved his hand to cover his mouth he took hers along with it.
He snapped his head up and blinked hard twice. He'd inadvertently touched her hand to his mouth. "Sorry, pain meds must be kicking in."
She glanced down quickly then back up at him with concern, she'd forgotten just how well he could hide pain when he wanted to. Without thinking she reached up and brushed a wisp of hair off his forehead. Her fingers stayed entwined in his hair and began to move in a slow petting motion. "Go ahead and rest if you can. I'll stay a little bit longer if that's okay."
He nodded groggily and closed his eyes. Not ten minutes later he was breathing in slow deep breaths and snoring very softly.
Carter slid her hand out of his and smoothed the hair on the top of his head one last time before leaving.
After his required one night in the infirmary O'Neill was given permission to go home and rest. Daniel was already off to see if he could find Chaka and convince him to help and as soon as he got back he and Teal'c would be going back to the planet under Colonel Edward's command. Not a perfect situation but then it never was. At least Teal'c would be there as a second voice for Daniel if he and the Colonel came to an impasse.
O'Neill finished up his paperwork so at least that wouldn't be hanging over his head when he got back and by late afternoon was on his way out of the mountain. He stopped by Hammond's office first then headed for the elevator.
Carter was in the control room furiously typing something into the computer. When he went by he stopped a second but didn't want to interrupt so he continued on down the steps and toward the elevator. He wasn't halfway down the hall when he heard a familiar voice calling him.
"Colonel!"
He stopped and turned back stiffly to see his 2IC trotting toward him. "Carter. How's the, uh, thing going?"
"Oh." She was panting slightly. "Just fine, good in fact. We should be done maybe later today."
"I thought you said it would take a week?"
"Um, it's been five days, that's a work week isn't it?"
He cocked his head and shrugged, which made him wince suddenly.
She raised her hand toward him but stopped herself. "What's wrong? I mean other than your shoulder?"
He took a breath and forced his shoulders to relax. "Yeah, when I went down I landed on some tree, root, rock, whatever, got me square in the back. It's okay, it's barely noticeable with the shoulder."
She smiled and glanced at the floor just now noticing he was in civvies. "You going home?"
"Yeah, Frasier can't think of anything else to do to me so I've been set free as it were. Not that I'll be *doing* anything much but watching TV and not drinking beer." He pulled the bottle of pain pills out of his pocket and turned it over in his hand then tossed it into the air and caught it. "Well, maybe one."
She stepped back and clasped her hands together in front of her. "Take care, Sir. See you in a few days then?"
"Yeah, don't have to check in 'til Monday. I assume the gate will be working?" He turned to go.
"It's working now." She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, and then grinned. Of course he knew that, Daniel went to find his friend and several other SG teams had come and gone over the entire time she was working on the programming, she'd only had it offline for a short while each day. She was sure she saw him grinning as he left.
She stood and watched him until he was at the elevator and noticed him wince again as he forgot and reached with the wrong hand to press the button. She bit her lower lip, it wasn't that she expected him to be invincible but he was obviously in more pain than he was letting on.
The rest of the day sped by rapidly and before nightfall Carter gave the technicians assisting her leave to go. She was still in the control room when Hammond walked through on his way home.
"Major Carter? I thought you said you were done?"
"We are Sir, I just was checking over a few things one more time."
"I think you said that an hour ago when SG-12 came back. Just when were you last home?"
"Um, well, it was much more convenient for me to stay here while we were doing the diagnostics. If there had been any problem I didn't want to have to rush back or try to solve a problem over the phone. I'd never forgive myself if someone needed to get back and couldn't because of some program I was running."
"You are done now, correct?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Then Major, I'm asking you to get of the base for awhile. Go home. It's Thursday; take a long weekend. I don't want to see you back here until Monday morning."
She started to object but he held a hand up to her. "Everyone needs a break sometime. SG-1 isn't going anywhere as a team until Colonel O'Neill is mended and who knows how long Doctor Jackson will be dealing with this Unas situation? You can bury yourself in your lab next week. Okay?"
She flushed and looked down. Is that what she did? Bury herself? "Yes, Sir. I'll see you Monday then."
He smiled and shook his head as he left, "You know I can make it an order."
She realized she hadn't moved and quickly stood and gathered her papers. "Going now, Sir."
All the way home she tried to think of what she could do. Laundry, no excitement there and besides the base laundry had already taken care of her BDU's so all she really had to do was underwear and a few personal items. She could work on her bike, but somehow after what she'd just done with the gate it was awfully low-tech. She could cook, no scratch that, call for delivery. She rubbed the back of her neck and thought her first order of business would be a nice hot pack across her shoulders to ease the tight muscles there.
That action reminded her of O'Neill's similar condition and sent her mind off in a whole new direction; what he really needed more than anything was a hot pack and a good massage. The light turned green but she didn't move until the car behind her honked.
Her mind was going at light speed. Surely it wouldn't be inappropriate to check in on him even though it was a little soon. He'd probably taken a couple pills and zoned out for the night anyway. Or possibly not, she knew how much he hated taking medications. Maybe just a quick look. She had an idea and stopped by the store on the way to his house.
O'Neill couldn't get comfortable; his back was hurting more than his shoulder now and he had to give in and take one of Frasier's pills. He felt like he'd been run over by a truck. 'Too old, O'Neill' he chided himself. 'Prancing around out in the woods like a kid, not watching where you're going.'
He squinted up at the door when he heard a soft knock.
"Carter? What are you doing here? Everything okay?"
She bustled past him with a grocery bag in her arms. "Done early like I said. Have you eaten supper?"
He let her pass and closed the door. "I know you said you'd be done today but I thought you'd still hang out and baby-sit your, uh, baby."
She set the bag on the counter and began unloading it. "I was actually, Hammond kicked me out."
He snickered. "Good for him. Rank has its privileges."
"So, have you eaten?"
"Well, yeah" He gestured to the counter and an open bag of chips and a still unopened can of soup.
"Great first choice. Nutrition is overrated or so I've heard."
Truth was he hadn't been hungry. Pain tended to do that to him, but suddenly he noticed the scent that followed her into the house and his mouth started to water. "Whatcha got there?"
"The last thing I wanted to do was cook, so I stopped by the Deli." She set out two small containers, one with green beans and the other with potatoes then lifted out the main course. "Lemon pepper chicken. Way better than what we get on base."
"Cool, serve it up."
After they ate he insisted on clean up himself as it was his house after all and entailed nothing more strenuous than loading the dishwasher. When he went to discard the paper sack she brought the food in he found it still contained something heavy.
"What's this, dessert?" He hefted up a five-pound bag of rice and held it out to her.
"Oh, shoot, I almost forgot. No, not dessert." She took it out of his hand. "I need to borrow two socks, no holes please."
He looked at her with raised eyebrows then lowered them. "Socks?"
"Clean ones."
He snorted. As if he'd hand Carter a pair of his dirty socks. "Right."
He came back with a new pair of socks and handed them to her then watched with interest as she dumped half the bag of rice into each one and tied a knot so it wouldn't come out. "Your back still sore?"
"Manageable." He lied, with his stomach full his body was back to reminding him of his age.
"Well, I got a serious cramp in my neck from leaning over that computer for so long," She glanced at him to see if he had a comment ready for that but he just looked back at her innocently. "And I remembered how you said you'd hurt your back too, so." With that she put the rice-filled socks in the microwave and set them to 'cook' for one minute.
She turned back to him and smiled at his confused look. 'Go. Sit. Preferably somewhere comfortable. Anything decent on TV?"
Confusion turned to pleasure when he realized she had more planned than just a quick, 'knew you wouldn't feel like cooking' visit. "Sure. I'll find something."
He decided on the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table while he scanned the channels. Sports, Simpson's- one he'd seen at least five times, News, Classic movies. He stopped there and watched a boy and a dog running around the screen for a few minutes.
"Old Yeller? I thought that was in black and white?"
He glanced up but didn't answer when he felt the cushions dip under her weight as she knelt beside him. "Where does it hurt?"
He shifted uneasily, somehow there was something just *wrong* with Carter kneeling on his couch. "Uh, in the middle mostly."
She put one very warm hand on the back of his neck and urged him forward a bit. He complied and leaned forward off the cushion. "Carter, while this is nice and all-" He suddenly jerked forward and arched his back when she touched a sensitive spot. "Yeah, that's it. You found it."
"Hold still a minute." She picked up one sock and kneaded it until it looked like a sock-pancake and held it behind him on the cushion. "Lean back, slowly, let me get the knot out of the way."
He did as he was told, but carefully. He was surprised to find the rice-sock didn't feel hard at all and retained quite a bit of heat from the microwave. He leaned back further into the cushion blissfully and let his head drop back. "Oh yeah."
He felt the cushions move as Carter repositioned herself to sit beside him. He glanced over and saw she'd put the other sock behind her neck and was snuggling into it to get it in the correct position. He smiled and closed his eyes. This evening turned out a lot better than he thought it would, good food, dog movie on TV, and Carter. What more could he ask?
The next thing he knew a ray of early morning sunshine was peeking through the window. The room was still mostly dark since the lamps and TV had been turned off and he noticed his left side was far warmer than it should have been if he'd slept on the couch without a blanket all night.
He started to get up but was pinned under a weight. Carter. Snuggling. On him. Oh. My.
She shifted in her sleep and lazily stretched the arm that was lying across his lap and in so doing brushed against his- ahem, morning wake up call.
He was stiff, not funny, from sleeping on the couch but not slow and now wide awake too and quickly removed her hand. He gently moved her shoulders until he could slip out from under her and make a hurried retreat to the bathroom. While he was there he decided to take a shower, a cold one.
When he returned to the den, clean and much more in control he was sorry to find no Carter. At least she'd left a note.
'Colonel. Sorry to fall asleep on you. Literally. I was thinking, we've both got a long weekend off. I thought you might go fishing or something but if not, you want to do something later? Call me. C.'
He stared at the note and blinked. Did she just ask him out? His mouth opened and closed and he felt a twitch starting in his knee. He swallowed hard and set the note beside the phone. Fishing. He really should go do that. There was time, and it wasn't like he could do anything much more than that anyway. Except spend time with Carter, that is.
He walked into the kitchen on the premise of getting a cup of coffee but returned a moment later empty-handed and looked at the note. Yep. Still there. Not his imagination.
He sighed and went back for the coffee.
Carter went home, showered, changed and started puttering around her house and fussing over her plants. 'You want to do something?' How lame was that? She was embarrassed enough she'd actually fallen asleep after she'd turned out the lights and TV. It was nice to see him in his own environment and relaxed so she'd indulged herself and sat down to watch him sleep for a few minutes. That was the whole problem, she was relaxed too. It felt so natural to be with him, alone. She passed right out.
She set down a water bottle too forcefully and it splashed. She couldn't decide if she was being a complete juvenile or acting like an old married woman. Unfortunately when it came to O'Neill, both scenarios fit. And then there was that 'regulations' thing. For some reason it was the last thing that came to her mind. Still it was the best reason to find something to do that would require her to be out of town for a few days and alone.
"Dammit." She quickly wiped up the mess she'd made and went back to the kitchen to dispose of the paper towel. On her way she glanced at the phone.
'Call me.' Oh, shit. And just what would she say if he did? 'Sorry, Colonel, I changed my mind, yep those pesky regulations. Just can't get a break can we?'
She plopped down on a chair still holding the paper towel and scrunching it up repeatedly in her hand. It wasn't like there was this mad passionate thing she couldn't control. Well it was, but that's not *all* it was about. She honestly and truly liked being with the man. He was smart and funny and-
She slapped her forehead with the heel of her hand as an image of O'Neill's rear came to mind. Okay, so there was physical attraction too. Half the females on the base turned their heads to catch a glimpse of that ass when he walked by.
She suppressed a giggle. Ass. The Colonel's ass. She remembered one of the nurses threatening to take a photo of it the next time he was in the infirmary and use it as blackmail to make him behave. She quickly stood and tossed out the paper. She was gonna have to find something to do soon.
Halfway back to her bedroom the telephone rang and she dutifully picked up. "Carter."
"Hey, hi. It's me."
She gulped audibly. "Oh, hi."
"I just wanted to thank you for the hot pack, and uh, dinner."
She started pacing the hallway. He sure didn't wait very long to call. "Anytime."
"About your note-"
She jumped in. "Oh, it's okay really, we've both got things to do and besides it's not like we don't see each other at work all the time." She was babbling and she knew it.
"No, it's not that. I, um." She could hear him take a deep breath on the other end of the line. She knew what was coming. Inappropriate behavior. Regulations. Appearances.
"There's a Triple 'A' baseball game at 7 PM, you want to go?"
"Sure." It was out of her mouth before her brain even saw it coming.
His voice immediately brightened. "Great. I'll pick you up around six. Ah, one thing though, you know we shouldn't, I mean...we can't really, um. Well, you know. Anyway my neighbor has two kids who want to go, eight and ten years old. Kinda like 'reverse' chaperoning?"
In a way she was relieved he wasn't going whole hog against the regs. Suddenly all the pressure was off and she leaned back against the wall and relaxed. "That would be fine. Are they both boys?"
"Yeah. Sid and Jeremy. They're good kids."
The game was more fun than she had imagined. O'Neill was obviously in his element keeping two youngsters occupied and fed. He kept up a running commentary on the game, the stats, the umpire's ancestry when he disagreed with a call and just *why* foot-long hot dogs were the only way to go.
Afterward she sat with the eight-year old asleep in her lap as they drove home. Instead of dropping her off first, he went straight to his neighborhood to get the kids home and to bed.
After that he slid back behind the wheel and glanced over at her. "Still early."
"Your arm's not bothering you?"
He grinned and gave the sling a little tug. "Actually I forgot about it. I guess too much going on."
"So what do you want to do? A movie would be too long. I'll be full of hot dog until this time tomorrow, so..."
He looked down and studied the steering wheel as if it would help him make up his mind about something. "You got room for coffee?"
"Yeah, I could do that."
He smiled and backed out of the driveway, went two doors down to his own house and pulled in. "This place good enough?"
She smiled and glanced through the windshield at the sky. "You think they've got an outside table? The stars are pretty tonight."
"Oh, I know the owner personally, no problem."
Several minutes later they were sitting on his roof each with a cup of steaming coffee. Getting there was a bit more complicated than O'Neill expected. Coffee was the easy part; he simply filled a thermos and let Carter carry it up. Getting himself there was another question altogether given that he was one arm short of actually being able to *climb* a ladder.
Still he managed somehow and even brought up a blanket in case they got cold.
The stars were as beautiful as ever, the coffee stayed hot and the company, well who could ask for more? Presently Carter did get a little cold and shivered.
"Come here, that's what the blanket's for. It always gets chilly up here." He unfolded the blanket and tossed it over his own shoulders then held out one side of it to her. She wrapped it around herself and leaned in closer to him so it would reach all the way.
"Better?"
"Hmm. Much." The small chairs they sat on had no arms to maintain a space between them and It seemed natural for her to lay her head on his shoulder and snuggle in closer. Her arm slid under his leaving her hand to rest on the inside of his thigh.
He really didn't want to bring up the subject. "Sam?"
She moved her head until she was facing him but was still using him as a pillow.
"Maybe we shouldn't have let our chaperones go so soon."
She feigned hurt. "You don't trust me?"
His hand found hers and rubbed over the top of it gently with his thumb. "With my life. It's just we seem to be in a recurring theme lately."
He felt her stiffen and begin to pull back slightly and gripped her hand to hold it in place. "Not that I mind, you understand, or that anything has changed from before, but I don't think either of us are so much out of control we'd ignore the consequences."
She pressed her lips into a thin line and shut her eyes tight. After a moment she spoke. "I'm tired of worrying about what could happen. It's like I've been caught in another time loop. I work on projects in my lab, ship off the really juicy stuff to Area 51, eat, sleep, then go off world to gather more stuff for my lab, all the while thinking about what *could* happen if this worked or that didn't. Sometimes all I *do* is analyze consequences."
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Isn't it? I don't know if you are aware of it, but I take a lot of chances in my lab. Sure I can estimate a reaction or hypothesize what my results will be, but in the end I either have to throw the switch or not. I'm more of a risk-taker than you might believe." She lowered her head back to his shoulder.
He squeezed her hand and rubbed his cheek against her hair. "Oh, I had that figured out a long time ago. My first clue was something about an arm wrestling match, I think. And then there's your bike, not too many folks get on one of those and putt around the neighborhood."
She grinned and nuzzled into his shoulder a little more. "Obvious, huh?"
"Not too much." He shifted his arm out from under her and wrapped it around her back, pulling her in close so that her head was now on his chest. Her arm moved instinctively around his waist.
"So what do we do, about these 'consequences'?"
He lowered his face so he could kiss the top of her head. "At the moment." Kiss. "I'm inclined." Kiss. "To say 'screw 'em."
She lifted her head and faced him taking a moment to gaze into his dark eyes. "Interesting choice of words."
His eyes moved down and she knew he was looking at her mouth. She couldn't help but glance down at his. "I don't think our 'chaperones' would have been much help at this point."
"Uh, uh. Probably be 'grossed out' any minute now." He inched a little closer and his hand shifted down to her waist. He tightened his arm around her lifting her slightly.
She closed her eyes for a second and reminded herself to breathe; her palm was now flat against his chest feeling his warmth. When she opened her eyes again their noses were almost touching. "No regrets."
He turned his head slightly to one side. "Not a one."
As if linked by an invisible thread drawing them closer they connected, at first gently with only slightly parted lips then with sudden urgency when just the tip of his tongue touched her lower lip. She opened her mouth to admit him and gasp and shudder at the same time.
It was everything it should have been, tender, sweet, hard and full of need all at once and left them panting and oddly somewhat satiated for the moment.
Her head lolled back and he took the opportunity to trail a wet line down her neck, stopping to suck at the hollow of her collarbone. She allowed it only for a moment before once again assaulting his mouth with hers. It was a long time before they stopped again, nearly breathless with lips swollen and red from the encounter.
Her head fell again to his chest and she hugged him fiercely. Within seconds he realized she was sobbing.
He didn't need to ask; he could feel the moisture in his own eyes. He squeezed her tightly and kissed the top of her head again. He spoke with his mouth still touching her hair, "Shhh. It's okay. I love you, too."
She pulled away and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "How did you know?" Her voice was only a whisper.
"Your eyes. It's been there for a long time." He paused and wiped a stray tear off her cheek with his thumb. "We can do this you know, hold out a little while longer. We both still have things to do."
"I don't want to." Her eyes burned into his.
He grinned at her, almost laughing. "Yes you do. Believe me, you do." He squeezed her to his chest and kissed her forehead. "I'll tell you what; let's make a deal. This will be our place. The 'room' if you will. If you ever need a reminder, I'll be here. Anytime."
She looked up at him and furrowed her brow. "And what happens here-"
"Stays here. And here." He moved her hand and placed it over his heart.
"For just a little while."
He nodded and kissed her mouth again, this time chastely. They sat and held each other for a long time then descended from the roof and he drove her home to her own bed, and returned to his. But somehow they weren't apart anymore. Giving the 'room' a physical location had solidified something that was just a dream before. Tomorrow it would be a whole new world.
"The touching of lips is the most intimate contact of all. The body can do almost anything without heart but the lips and the eyes they do not lie."
-Anonymous.
~fin.
Smooch,
Jodi Marie
Story Notes: Response to challenge to write what Sam and Jack did while Daniel was playing with the Unas' in Enemy Mine.
Tag/missing scene from Enemy Mine.
Spoilers: Enemy Mine- big time.
Oh my God, I wrote something less than 75 pages! Be still my heart!
Email: ag4bk@juno.com
Tag/missing scene from Enemy Mine.
Spoilers: Enemy Mine- big time.
Oh my God, I wrote something less than 75 pages! Be still my heart!
Email: ag4bk@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 ]