“Sirrrrr…”
“Ahh, Carrter… this is so grrreattt,” Jack says contently.
Our joined hands are slightly reducing our movement but I don’t mind. “Yess sirr,” I respond equally contently.
We’re floating in water because it’s difficult to swim with only one arm when the other is glued to the man I desperately tried for years not to touch.
Oddly, I don’t care about appearances today.
The water feels wonderful, and the sense of Jack next to me is more than satisfying. Playfully, I splash him with my free hand, and the look of surprise on his face is too much for me to hold back the laugh.
“Ah! Carter!”
I’m still laughing, and struggling to keep above the water. The fact that Jack’s splashing me isn’t helping at all.
“Sir!” I plead for him to stop. I don’t have the strength to keep afloat any more.
He grabs me around the waist, insuring that I don’t drown. “Not exactly a Little Mermaid, eh Carter?”
“No,” I can feel his breath on my face, while the laughter was slowly disappearing and something entirely else passing between us. “You watched ‘The Little Mermaid?’”
“Yup,” he’s not at least bit embarrassed. “With Cassie couple of years back.”
I should’ve thought of that. After all that’s who I saw it with.
We’re impossibly close. The laughter’s completely gone, his hand still on my waist even though I don’t need his help any more, but I don’t mind. “You know Cassie’s favorite song from that movie?” Good Job! I congratulate myself for being so subtle, smiling invitingly.
“No, what?” he’s playing me, teasing.
But I find it frustrating. “‘Kiss the Girl!’” I practically yell. Yeah… way to be discreet.
Jack tilted his head, smirking. “Okay.”
He moves slowly, watching my mouth.
Just a few millimeters away and he looks up. I see mischief and desire in his eyes. I love it when his eyes are smiling like that.
My other self seems to be missing in action, because I know she would be protesting at this development. What ever happened to Major Carter, I don’t care. Samantha is in control now.
Just as Jack closed the distance, I felt water in my mouth.
In that instance, I realize we’re under water, and that something’s pulling us towards the shore. I’m not even sure if we kissed or not. I think his lips brushed mine, and smile at the thought, swallowing more water.
Finally, gasping for air and coughing violently, I try to look around to see who’s pulling us, but I can’t.
“Teal’c! Daniel! What the hell are you doing?” I hear an irritated voice next to me.
“Be quite O’Neill.”
“You know, we can swim without help, you two don’t have to drag us,” I try oh so sweetly. I know my guys have a weakness for me.
“You too will remain quite MajorCarter,” apparently the soft spot’s not working today.
“Do you know how worried we’ve been!”
“Daniel,” I try again, “we just went…”
“…for a swim,” Jack finishes for me and I flash him a smile.
“A swim!? A swim!? We’ve been looking for you for two hours! Even Teal’c had trouble finding your tracks…” Daniel’s breathing heavily and I can’t imagine that towing us is helping.
“DanielJackson, I said be quiet.”
Oh boy. Teal’c’s not just annoyed by us, but down right angry. I’m sure at least one eyebrow is quirked in a ‘I’m so pissed off’ way.
I stop my attempts to protest, and start to enjoy the free ride.
At the shore, I go over my legs trying to dry off my pants. I know there’s no way to do that without taking them off, but I’m afraid the Major in me won’t let me get that cheeky. Of course the fact that Jack’s hand is in mine, and that his backhand was actually going over my right leg completely slipped my mind.
Heehee. Look at him gulping.
Oh! He’s made me. Jack definitively knows what I was doing… I’d plead the fifth but this non-verbal communication is really ruining my chances to lie. Oh, like I had a chance if I’d actually said: ‘I didn’t mean to do it.’
“Carter,” he says, “if we could find a T-shirt contest on our way back home,” he waves towards my front area and my very wet top, “I’m sure you could win,” he smiles teasingly.
I know Jack’s trying to embarrass me, so I laugh. Bad, bad Colonel. “Oh sir, I’m sure that we can find a court martial on our way back as well,” I raise my eyebrows toward him, daring him to continue.
Something flashes in his eyes for a moment, and the grin is immediately a distant memory as I realize he might think he’s crossed the line with the comment. I didn’t mean it like that…
“Because if I don’t win,” I continue trying to rectify my mistake, “you would be thrown in jail and tortured to death for putting me through that embarrassment.” I smile wildly for thinking such a good excuse for mentioning a court martial, his own smile reappearing.
Just as he was about to continue our little discussion, Daniel butted in. “Just stop it!” I think Daniel lost it, and Teal’c’s dragging us again. Actually, Teal’c’s pulling the Colonel, but being link to him I have no choice but to follow.
“Stop what?” Jack knows that there’s no point arguing with ‘T’ about this dragging thing, so he’s picking on Daniel.
“Stop this, this…” it seems Daniel’s uncomfortable to put into words whatever is bugging him. “this… thing you’ve been doing all day!”
Oh… so that’s what’s troubling him. Heehee.
“What thing!? The Colonel’s baiting him.
“This… this..” he’s waving franticly towards us, “…oh, just forget it. Teal’c I’m taking point.”
What? Wow. Daniel in charge…
“Very well DanielJackson.”
As he walks away we can hear him mumble angrily. “… weirdest mating ritual… insane people…” and than we hear him imitating me! “… oh, sir, I’m sure we could find a court martial as well…”
I don’t sound that girly!! He’s dead now!
I face the Colonel, who’s squeezing my hand, and I find him sporting the silliest goofy grin I have ever seen. All anger forgotten, I find myself caught in his silliness.
We follow Teal’c and Daniel in content silence, swinging our joined hands like couple of kids, occasionally turning to each other just to find out if the other one is still smiling.
oOo
“Welcome home SG-1,” the General greets us from the Control Room and both Jack and me wave to him happily. He looks at us oddly, but waves back somewhat dumbstruck.
While we wait for the radiation team to give us the all clear, the General comes down to the Gate Room. “Why are you back so early? Was there a problem?” he asks looking at all of us and finally setting his gaze to my right and Jack’s left hand.
“Actually General, I have no idea why we’re back. I didn’t see any problems,” Jack answered the question before anyone else.
Come to think of it, I have no idea why we’re back either. We were supposed to stay for three days on that planet.
“Why are you wet?” George’s looking at us suspiciously. I mean really… one would think he’s used to expect unusual things for us, and gating home wet doesn’t really fall in that category. “And care to explain that?” he points to us holding hands. Now, that I can understand him being weird about.
“Ah. That.” Jack’s being Jack.
“Sir, I think it would be better if we take this to the briefing room,” Daniel says.
“We will, but first I want Major Carter and Colonel O’Neill to change and for all of you to be done with your medicals. Briefing in an hour.”
We start to walk away from the gate room when General stops us. “Colonel, Major?”
We turn. “Yes sir?”
“Care to let go of each other?”
“Oh. That.” Jack starts again. “We’re glued together sir,” he states as if that’s perfectly normal.
“Glued?”
“Yes sir,” Jack starts pulling our hands proving his point that we can’t be separated. “See.”
The General looks at us for a long moment. “To the infirmary. Now.”
We nod and carry on to our destination.
oOo
Once under the scrutiny of our CMO, we realize that getting out of these clothes isn’t going to be very easy. Or rather… Janet can just cut through our T-shirts, but getting one back on would be difficult.
Finally, we resolve the issue using standard medical nightgowns.
I go first with the changing of clothes and find it very hard not to use my other hand as I instinctively want to pull the pants with both hands. Janet’s a big help there, but she’s barely said a word since we walked in. I can see she has something on her mind, and I have to wonder what Daniel told her.
The Colonel’s dressing goes much slower, or at least is seems that way because Daniel’s helping him and they’re arguing.
When we finished with our medicals, Janet decides to follow us to the briefing.
oOo
“Alright people. Why did you came back early?”
Jack shrugs, and I give him a blank look. We have no idea. We were dragged off of that planet.
“They did something to Sam and Jack,” Daniel’s says and we’re all looking at him like he lost his mind.
“So they glued us together… it’s not like it’s deadly. They said it’ll wear off,” Jack responded to Daniel’s drama and I’m nodding my head in confirmation.
And I’m smiling.
And Jack’s smiling too.
And we’re perfectly okay with this.
“Would you stop that!”
Okay, Daniel’s lost it again.
“Stop what?”
“Smiling Jack! You’ve been doing it all day! And you too Sam!”
Well, I stopped after that exclamation. What’s wrong with him!
“It’s so unnerving!”
“Indeed.”
So we smiled, or laughed today. So what?
“Okay, that’s enough. Now I want the reason why you’ve returned early,” the General took control over his briefing room.
“We believe something has been done to MajorCarter and O’Neill.”
“The natives said that the glue will come off in couple of days, but after Jack and Sam disappeared…”
“Disappeared?” Hammond interrupted Daniel’s explanation.
“Yes, they went for a swim,” the archeologist said, annoyed. “We tracked them down and gated home immediately.”
“That’s why they were all wet,” the General concluded, and Daniel nodded.
“Anyway, the people on P38-009 said that the glue will wear off when the boding has matured. They’ve both been acting really strange since that stuff was applied on their hands and I was worried. So I asked what they meant by ‘matured,’” our friend sighed. “It seems that they have to… mrhmshs… . for the glue to wear off.”
“I’m sorry Dr. Jackson what did you say?”
He sighed again. “I said that they have to … mrshmsshs… the glue to wear off.”
“What?” the General’s leaning towards Daniel so he’d hear better.
“They have to consummate their relationship for the glue to wear off!” He blurted out, practically yelling in frustration.
And all our eyes went wide and stared.
“What?!” Jack used our linked hands to smack the table but I felt the full blow of that.
“Sorry,” he looks at me apologetically but the pain is in the farthest corner of my mind.
“That’s what they said Jack…”
“We can’t stay linked forever!” Jack yells at Daniel, and than turning to the General. “Can we?”
I giggle at that. I sure wouldn’t mind.
“That’s not all,” Daniel starts again. He really doesn’t know when to stop. “I suspect, based on what the natives have told us, that the glue has some sort of an affect on their behavior…”
“Daniel brought a sample for me to study, and its already sent to the lab,” Janet chimed in. “I can’t say this is normal behavior for them sir,” she finishes waving towards us.
“What did we do?” I ask frowning. Traitors, all of them.
“For one, neither Jack nor Sam notified us of leaving, Jack would never be that careless,” Daniel started, “the lake was at least an hour away from the village…”
“We made it in forty five minutes,” Jack cuts him off. “We ran,” he says with pride in his voice.
“When we finally caught up with them, they didn’t even think what they did was wrong,” Daniel continued ignoring Jack. “And look at them! Jack is never this happy!”
I look at Jack, and sure enough. He’s grinning again. And I’m smiling too. Hehe.
I try to frown but it only lasts for a minute before smirking starts up again.
Okay, there’s definitely something wrong with us.
“I would like to contain them in the infirmary for the time being and wait for the results of their blood tests. I would also be able to monitor any changes in their behavior.”
“Janet come on!” I don’t want to be contained between four walls at the moment. “There’s nothing wrong with us!”
“Major!” the General scowls at me. “Dr. Fraser, do what you think is necessary,” he gets up. “Dismissed people.”
oOo
Four hours in the infirmary and both of us are going insane. Our beds are close together given our circumstances, so it feels nice and cozy but still, it’s too boring.
“Carter! I don’t want to watch that!”
“But it’s fascinating!”
“I don’t care!” he’s reaching for the remote but I grab it first and hold it out of his reach.
“Come on sir, we’ve watched ‘Days of our lives,’ and I’m sick of it!”
He’s trying to get to the remote, which effectively places him on top of me, but he doesn’t seem to realize it.
“Gimme!” Jack still trying to reach it.
I giggle. “If you ask nicely I just might,” I whisper seductively near his ear.
That got his attention and he looks me in the eyes. Suddenly his hand isn’t going for the remote any more, but is slowly making its way to my waste. When it finally descends there, a shiver goes through my whole body and I drop the remote.
His hand is traveling upwards, and mine goes to his face.
“Colonel O’Neill!” Damn, damn, damn, that’s Janet. “What are you doing?”
Jack turned with a ‘deer caught in the head lights’ look. “I… don’t know.”
His words strike me as strange, but understandable. I had no idea what I’m doing, irregardless of the fact that I started the whole thing. “It was my fault,” I say, but Janet’s not buying it. It IS my fault.
“No,” the Colonel responds, and I curse him for being so noble. “It’s my fault… I didn’t think…”
Janet’s waving her head off. “It’s nobody’s fault, I was just caught off guard.”
At that point the General walks in followed closely by Daniel and Teal’c. “Doctor, you said you have some news.”
“Yes sir,” she starts as the Colonel and I sit upright. “The ‘glue’ is actually some sort of an aphrodisiac, compiled with some other chemicals that are causing a disturbance in their hormones. The Colonel has high levels of testosterone that are not normal in a male of his age, and I can’t really tell what it’s doing to Sam’s body chemistry because of the naquada. It could be that the drug isn’t doing anything to her, but on the other hand the naquada could be concealing her symptoms.” She paused. “The thing is, the aphrodisiac seems to be multiplying.”
“What do you mean multiplying?” the General asked.
“Sir, the sample that Daniel brought had small amounts of the drug in it, but the blood work for both of them shows almost a duplicated dose of what they originally received.”
“That could be consistent with the reason why the bonding must be consummated,” Daniel added. “Right?”
“Well, yes. But, in this case I don’t know what the chemicals would do to their bodies if this continues. An aphrodisiac, for the lack of the better word, could be just waited out and it should put the matters at rest. Like Viagra or other medicines that are used to treat impotence. However, if one takes too much Viagra, one could end up in a serious condition.”
“So, they could be in danger?” Daniel asked carefully.
“If the level of the drug starts climbing… it’s a definite possibility.”
“Excuse me! We’re still here!”
“I’m sorry Colonel, but this is very bad news,” Janet finally paid attention to us.
I, on the other hand, didn’t see the problem. “We could just have sex,” I add to the conversation.
It’s odd how I’m not even blushing, but their faces are way too funny to concern myself with the lack of embarrassment.
Teal’c’s eyebrows are high up.
The General’s mouth was on the floor.
Daniel’s coughing.
Janet’s eyes are like two big saucers.
But Jack’s grinning. “I knew you’d think of something, Carter. You’re a genius.”
tbc
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 ]