It had been a long day in Washington. They were supposed to receive their medals from the President, but that had been called off after Col. O'Neill witnessed an "accident." Neither General Hammond, Sam or Jack talked going back to their hotel, each one lost in their own thoughts. Sam got to her room first, Colonel O'Neil next door, and General Hammond next to him. They'd leave in the late morning back to Cheyenne Mountain, but for now they all felt exhausted.
Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter had two rooms that were connected by two doors back to back. They'd left the door ajar in between their rooms so they could talk earlier.
Sam knocked on the suite door to say goodnight to the Colonel. Jack was getting ready for bed when he heard the knock at the suite door. "Yeah, Captain?"
"Just wanted to say goodnight sir. At least we're going home tomorrow."
"Yeah, goodnight Carter." Jack noticed that she looked exhausted. He knew he wasn't the only one that had a bad day. Carter had mentioned that her dad told her he had cancer. He'd had worse days, but this one was up there. They were both emotionally drained.
Sam fell into an exhausted sleep, but she wasn't asleep for long when she felt her bed move and slowly opened her eyes to see her commanding officer sitting in sweats on the other side of the bed. Sam knew why he was here. "You don't think it was an accident, do you sir?" She knew he needed to talk about it, or at least be with someone while he was this disturbed. She began to sit up.
"Don't get up, Carter." Jack gently placed his hand on her head to tell her it was ok to stay where she was. He wasn't going to be here long; he just needed some company for a little while. Jack knew he'd kept his hand there longer than he should and felt her hair for a bit too long, but she was so beautiful just lying there on her side ruffled from her brief sleep. He moved his hand slowly away.
Sam felt his hand on her head and closed her eyes for a moment. It felt so good to have human contact after so long, and she had to admit it felt better coming from Colonel O'Neill that from anyone else. She knew he wouldn't do anything inappropriate, but he was coming a little close.
"You don't think it was an accident, do you Carter?" Jack asked.
"No sir." Sam agreed. "But you know what bothers me most?" Sam rolled to her back. "Is that General Hammond is involved in this." Both Sam and her father had grown to respect General Hammond immensely, and now to think he was in something so underhanded was disturbing, to say the least.
"Yeah. That bugs me too. But I think what happened is that he called someone else to report the leak, and whoever that was…took care of the "problem." At least that's what I want to believe."
"I hope you're right, sir. That makes me feel better."
Jack gave her an exhausted smile and changed the subject. "Hey, Carter? How come you never told me your Dad was a General?"
"I bet you can guess why, sir."
Jack nodded. "You didn't want me to think that you got where you're at because of him."
Sam looked up at him. "He told me he could get me into NASA today. He thought I was crazy for turning him down so I could work on satellite dishes." She was so frustrated that she couldn't tell her dad the truth. That NASA was her dream because space was her dream. And the NASA seemed so primitive now after what she'd seen.
Jack smiled. They had a lousy cover story, and her dad knew it. "I think your dad knows you're doing something else. He just doesn't know what."
"He should have asked the press agent. He seemed to have all the info. Too late for that now." Sam said ruefully.
"Yeah." Jack stared at the black television screen in front of him. Praise didn't come easy for him, but she needed to hear it. "Carter, you're the most…competent second in command I've ever had. And I've worked with some pretty incredible people. I would never think you got to where you were cause of your dad. I know you've earned it."
Sam looked up in astonishment from words of such high praise, especially knowing his words didn't come easy for him. She stared at him for a minute and propped herself up on her elbow and tried not to smile at him. "See, sir, I told you you'd like me once you got to know me." She couldn't contain smiling cheekily at him anymore. She held out her hand and he squeezed it, but he didn't let go. She lay back down onto the bed. "I bet you never held Kawalski's hand."
"Actually," Jack started slowly, "I have. But his skin wasn't this soft." Sam looked up and giggled. She let go of his hand. "You wanna watch a movie, sir?"
"Sure, Carter. Toss me the TV listings." She reached around to hand it to him and got out of bed to go make a bag of popcorn. A thought occurred to her. "Sir, how did you know I'd be decent enough for you to walk into my room?"
Jack chuckled. "You told me goodnight, remember. I saw what you were wearing. And besides, I figured if you slept in the buff you would've closed the suite door. Though I admit I was a little disappointed…" Jack raised his eyebrows a couple times and gave her a smile.
Sam just shook her head and went back to the microwave. "Hey, Carter. The Holy Grail is on!"
"Really, cool!" She plopped down next to Jack with the hot bag of popcorn in between them.
"Hey, Carter." Sam turned to her CO. "I guess it wasn't such a bad day, after all."
She gave him a quick smile. "No, sir, it turned out ok."
And they both started laughing and the coconut horses.
Story Notes: email:catywebb@webbtex.com
spoilers: the medal ceremony one where Daniel and Teal'c go off to Abydos and Sam and Jack go to Washington. I think it's called in the Line of Duty, but my friend has my DVD's!
disclaimer: I don't even own my car, much less a multimillion dollar tv show. I write to procrastinate cleaning my house. I get no money for it.
Notes: I don't know anyone, so I tried to proof read really well. Any volunteers for beta testing? (Cheesy yet hopeful grin) I screwed up when I posted this to Heliopolis and said it was season 6. Obviously, it's season 2, but hey, I'm new. If you hurt my feelings too much I'll run away.
spoilers: the medal ceremony one where Daniel and Teal'c go off to Abydos and Sam and Jack go to Washington. I think it's called in the Line of Duty, but my friend has my DVD's!
disclaimer: I don't even own my car, much less a multimillion dollar tv show. I write to procrastinate cleaning my house. I get no money for it.
Notes: I don't know anyone, so I tried to proof read really well. Any volunteers for beta testing? (Cheesy yet hopeful grin) I screwed up when I posted this to Heliopolis and said it was season 6. Obviously, it's season 2, but hey, I'm new. If you hurt my feelings too much I'll run away.
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 ]