Season 7
29 January 2004

Jack turned the page of his morning newspaper with a soft rustle. The sound was lost in the low murmur of conversation and the rattle and clicking of cutlery and dishes in the commissary. Nine days after inauguration the news of the new president's swearing in no longer dominated the front page but it was still prominent in the interior pages and his eyes skimmed headlines and articles.

At last he reached the funnies and puzzles and he folded the paper back on itself to isolate the crossword puzzle. A crossword was an excellent way to take part in today's National Puzzle Day if he did say so himself. He might even try his hand at one of those Japanese math puzzles to really celebrate.

He pushed his tray to the side, careful not to push it into any of the trays of his teammates, and set the paper down and searched through his pockets for something to write with. Finding a pen, he uncapped it, and began penning in his answers to the clues. After writing in a handful of the answers he frowned at twenty-two across and looked up across the table at his second-in-command. "Hey Carter?"

"Yes Sir?" Carter looked up from her breakfast.

"I need a four letter word. Prefix with matter, proton or particle."

"Anti."

"Thanks," he looked down at the puzzle and penned her answer in.

"Sir?"

"Yeah?" Jack kept his eyes on the crossword as he studied the next across clue.

"Don't you think you can finish one without asking for help?"

"What?" he looked up at her in surprise.

"Your crosswords. You always ask me for help."

"I don't."

"You do too," Daniel interjected from his seat diagonal across the table as he looked up from his linguistic journal.

"Don't," Jack insisted.

"Do."

"Don't."

"You do O'Neill," Teal'c ended the argument from his seat on the left.

"Oh," Jack cleared his throat and looked back at Carter. "Sorry Carter, didn't mean to bother you with it."

"It isn't a bother Sir. It's just..." Carter looked a bit uncomfortable, "I think if you thought about it instead of asked me right away, you would get the answer yourself."

Jack thought about it and then thought about what holiday it was, and he leaned across the table. "Is that a challenge Major?"

Carter responded in kind and leaned across the table. "Do you want it to be Sir?"

"I don't know Major. What are you offering up?"

"Well," Carter leaned back to ponder things and then her expression brightened and she challenged. "A week worth of KP duties Sir."

"That's quite a bet there. You ready for a week of KP Major?" Jack taunted.

"Are you Sir?" she countered with a saucy little grin. "So this is the bet Sir. You finish a crossword without help and I do a week's worth of KP. You don't finish the crossword and you do a week's worth of KP."

Jack thought it over and then nodded his agreement. "Deal."

"So it's a bet." Carter stood beside the table and picking up her tray. "I'll go find another crossword for you—"

"No science journal stuff!" he objected.

"Don't worry Sir, I'm just going to find a different newspaper to get today's crossword from. There should be a New York Times or even a Cheyenne Edition around somewhere. And remember Sir, no getting help!"

"Don't worry Sam," Daniel chimed in, "I'll make sure he doesn't get any help from me."

"Good," Carter gave a satisfied nod and head high, sauntered away.

Jack watched her go. When the doors swung shut behind her, he pulled his eyes away and cleared his throat upon finding Daniel and Teal'c were giving him looks. "What? It's National Puzzle Day you know, I can't turn down doing a puzzle today."

Daniel shook his head. "If you say so Jack, if you say so."

"It is!"

"Oh, I don't doubt it's one of your weird holidays but really Jack, if you wanted to do a week of KP why didn't you just say so?"

Jack wagged his pen at Daniel who was looking oh so innocent. "Just you wait Daniel, just you wait. I'll complete the crossword and the next couple missions you'll be suffering through Carter's cooking."

He frowned. Actually, on second thought, maybe he should lose the bet. Nah, he shook his head, Carter hadn't managed to mess up MREs yet and besides, he hated doing dishes. Decision made he turned back to the crossword he'd started to get some more practice in. And if worst came to worst, and he didn't manage to finish the crossword and win, he could always bet double or nothing and give it another go.

-FINISHED