samandjack.net

Story Notes: EMAIL: rholland@pilotsoftware.com

SPOILERS: None. Set sometime in season 7

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment, not monetary purposes, and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: 25-Mar-2003. Very different from my first item of fanfic. I was spurred to write this by the stuff I've read that talks about Sam having a romantic relationship during season 7. Hopefully this isn't an old theme, and as I haven't read anything quite like it, I hope I'm not plagiarising either. Comments appreciated.


A BBQ at General Hammond's house. Just the members of SG1 plus Jonas, Janet, and Cassie. Nothing to worry about, right? Wrong! Her palms were sweating. She was distinctly nervous. And she hadn't even left home! Why was she so anxious?

She knew, of course, that the problem was Steve - her boyfriend. He had been invited too, and this would be the first time that anyone from "work" would meet him. They hadn't been dating for long, and it hadn't been easy because he couldn't know anything about the SGC, but she very much wanted everyone to like him. And today was the day he would meet them.

For heaven's sake though! She was a grown woman in her mid thirties. Why should she be so anxious about anyone meeting her new boyfriend? She sighed. It was because she desperately wanted her friends to like him. It had been a long time since she had dated anyone, even though this was still in the early stages. She'd finally managed to move on from the "relationship", or lack thereof, with the Colonel that neither of them had been able to admit, and could never go anywhere. It wasn't easy, but she felt good that she was actually thinking about having a life outside the SGC. She was nervous about how he would react, but she knew that Daniel was happy for her - or at least he seemed to be anyway. She just hoped that everyone else would be ....

She checked her watch. She didn't want to be early. But then she didn't want to be last to arrive either - although she had to admit that no matter when she turned up the Colonel would probably be later. He was never on time for anything. She grinned to herself, and then stopped. Why was she thinking about him? Damn. She thought she was past that. Anyway, she needed to leave in a few minutes so she got up, and started to get ready.

***

After picking up Steve they drove to General Hammond's house. They hadn't talked much in the car as she was still nervous. Steve tried to crack a few jokes, but she just didn't seem to be in the mood, so he fell silent. She knew that she should say something to him, after all it was just as difficult for him as for her - meeting all the people that she worked with, spent more time with than any married couple. He obviously didn't know the details, or why she couldn't be contacted for days at a time when she was supposedly studying Deep Space Radar Telemetry. But he seemed to understand.

As she parked the car she looked to see who else was there. She saw Janet's car, and a USAF sedan that Teal'c had probably used to drive from the base. She also saw Daniel's beaten up looking car. Anyone would think that archaeologists had a problem with anything that wasn't old! No big pickup though, which meant that the Colonel wasn't here yet. No real surprise.

"Sorry I've been a little out of it", she said to Steve. "I'm just nervous."

"It's OK Sam. I'm nervous too. It'll be good though, to meet your friends." He smiled at her.

"Thanks," she said, smiling back, and briefly touching his hand. They got out of the car and walked down the driveway into the house.

***

The first person she saw was Jonas. Typically, he was eating something - looked like a hot dog from what she could see.

"Hey Sam", he mumbled through the mouth full of food, waving excitedly at her with his free hand. "How are you?"

She smiled at his enthusiasm. "Hi Jonas. Looks like you're enjoying yourself." She turned slightly so that she could introduce Steve.

"Steve, I'd like you to meet Jonas. Jonas works with the team from time to time."

"Hi Jonas", Steve said. "Nice to meet you."

"You too Steve", said Jonas, although she thought that he might looking at Steve a little strangely. Maybe she was just imagining it, being so nervous. She was saved from any further thoughts along those lines when Janet and Cassie came up behind her.

"Hi Sam", said Janet, and then turned to Steve and seemed to flounder for a second. "You, um, must be Steve. Sam's told me a lot about you."

Steve grinned a little self consciously. "Nothing bad I hope?"

"Of course not!" Janet seemed to have recovered from whatever was distracting her. "Steve, this is my daughter Cassie."

"Nice to meet you Cassie."

"Hi Janet. Hi Cass," she said, once again distracted by a strange look being directed at Steve, this time by Cassie. What was going on? Some sort of conspiracy?

"Come on Steve, we had better go and meet the host. He is my boss you know." She grabbed Steve by the arm and almost dragged him towards the BBQ where General Hammond was expertly flipping burgers and hot dogs. Teal'c was there with him, although he wasn't exactly talking because that just wasn't Teal'c.

"Hi Sam," the General said. "Glad that you could make it." And now he seemed to be giving Steve a strange look. She decided to ignore it.

"Hi sir. Glad to be here. Steve, this is General Hammond, commander of the facility where I work."

"You can call me George, son," said General Hammond.

"Hi George," said Steve. "Been looking forward to meeting everyone that Sam talks about so much. Appreciate your inviting me."

"Steve, I'd also like you to meet Teal'c."

"Hi Teal'c. That's kind of an unusual name isn't it?"

"Not where I am from," said Teal'c. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance." Teal'c inclined his head and raised an eyebrow - no wait. Even though they were obscured by the hat he was wearing, she was sure he had raised *both* eyebrows! She'd never seen him do that before. Now she knew something strange was definitely going on but had no idea what.

This time she was distracted by Daniel coming out of the house. He came over and gave her a hug. "Hey Sam. Good to see you." He turned to Steve, and seemed lost for second, as Janet had, before speaking. "Steve?" he said, reaching out his hand, "Daniel Jackson. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise", said Steve, returning the handshake. "Sam talks a lot about you." Daniel definitely seemed distracted.

"I think that Janet's needs to talk to me about something," he said awkwardly. "I'll catch up with you later?" He seemed in a little too much of a hurry as he walked over to the table where Janet, Cassie, and Jonas were talking, almost whispering, passing occasional glances towards herself and Steve. Now she was beginning to get worried. Was he wearing something wrong? No. Jeans, black t-shirt and leather jacket. Nothing wrong there. She didn't think he looked peculiar. What *was* everyone's problem?

"Daniel Jackson seems most interested in conversing with me also," said Teal'c, moving away to join the group on the other side of the yard, who now seemed to be involved in a peculiar version of Chinese Whispers.

"Would you like a beer son?" said General Hammond, indicating the ice chest.

"You betcha," said Steve, helping himself.

"I'll be back in a minute Steve," she said. "I just want to catch up with Janet for a second."

"Sure. So do you like hockey George?" She started walking towards the group who seemed to fall guiltily silent as she approached.

"OK," she said. "Out with it. What's the problem?"

"Um, nothing Sam", said Daniel, looking away sheepishly while hugging himself with his arms. Jonas stuffed another hot dog into his mouth, obviously deciding that he could escape the conversation that way.

"Really?" she said icily. "Janet? Care to enlighten me?"

"Er. Cass, weren't you just telling me what a nice day it was?"

"Janet!" Now she was getting annoyed. What did they think they were playing at? If there was a problem, why wouldn't they tell her what it was? "Anyone care to say anything?" She glared at each of them.

Teal'c finally spoke up after a few seconds silence. "What Daniel Jackson and Doctor Frasier seem unwilling to state, is that Steve appears very like O'Neill."

"What!" Janet blushed and looked away and Daniel hung his head, looking at his feet. Cassie just grinned like the teenager she was. "You can't be serious? They're not at all alike!" What planet were these people from again? This was just ridiculous. They were obviously trying to make fun of her. She was getting more annoyed by the second. Especially since everyone was avoiding her gaze. And these people called themselves her friends?

"Well a less observant person may not notice," said Jonas, finally managing to swallow what he was eating, "but Steve does seem very similar to Colonel O'Neill."

She turned and looked daggers at him, and then heard in the background the familiar "O for crying out loud", and looked around expecting to see the Colonel. Except that all she saw was Steve picking up the bottle of beer he had just dropped. The Colonel wasn't anywhere near where the sound had come from, although it seemed as though he had just walked down the drive. He stopped to try and determine why everyone was looking so stunned. He was dressed as he usually did for this sort of thing - jeans, black t-shirt, leather jacket ...

Her mind stopped functioning. Completely. Her vision seemed to tunnel. She thought that she might have collapsed had Daniel not grabbed her by the arm and Teal'c moved to support her on the other side.

"Oh my God!" she finally said. "I'm dating the Colonel!"



End Notes: Thanks for reading. I'm always looking for ways to improve my wiring. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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