Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Samantha Carter, doctor of theoretical astrophysics and Air Force Captain, entered her home tiredly. She took a moment to throw the lock and place the chain across the door before she turned and simply leaned against the wood. Sam sighed at the silence that greeted her and pushed off the door. She wandered into the open plan living space with her mail clutched in one hand, and glanced around as though for the first time.

A small kitchenette took up the right with its uniform line of cupboards against one wall and a breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from a tiny dining area that had a small round table, which was covered in a stack of reference books, and two chairs. The kitchen counters were clean; the stove spotless. She couldn’t remember the last time she had cooked. Two forlorn cat dishes sat empty on the floor; Schrödinger, her cat was being cared for by a neighbour. She was contemplating whether to offer the old lady permanent ownership.

The small living area had a simple two-seater leather sofa and a large coffee table with a television set in the corner. There were a couple of scatter cushions on the sofa along with an old woollen throw but they were the only nod at comfort and homeliness in the entire space. Her blue eyes fell on the framed prints that were stacked against the far wall on the ground. They had been there since she had moved in; she hadn’t gotten around to putting them up. The door to her bedroom was shut and she knew if she opened it she would see more of the same; a bed covered with utilitarian linen, clothes hung in military discipline in her wardrobe or folded into her dresser and only an old quilt of her maternal grandmother’s, her battered childhood bear on a chair and her musical jewellery box – the last gift her mother had given her – to soften the overall effect.

For the first time since she had moved into the apartment, it felt uninviting and sterile. Not like Janet Fraiser’s house, Sam mused. She had noticed when she dropped off Cassie, the young girl they had just rescued from Hanka, from their day at the park just how warm and welcoming Janet’s house was. It would be a great home for Cassie; the SGC CMO had confirmed to Sam that she had asked General Hammond for permission to adopt the little girl. She was pleased for Janet and for Cassie, Sam thought determinedly. They would make a great family. She shrugged off her jacket and hit the button on her answering machine.

‘You have no new messages.’

She rolled her eyes. There was a surprise, she thought and bit her lip at the bitter overtone of her internal voice. She flipped through the mail; junk. She binned it. Maybe she should make dinner, she mused. Her hand crept to her stomach; she was still full from the barbeque her CO, Colonel O’Neill, had insisted on feeding them all after they had exhausted the activities at the park. She had seen her team-mate, Teal’c, surreptitiously feeding Cassie’s new dog most of his charred meat and Sam was regretting the decision not to do the same. Even if she had wanted to make dinner, Sam realised, she had little or no food in the house. She resolutely filled the kettle.

A few minutes later, she sat on her sofa with a cup of tea ready on the coffee table in front of her. She hunted for the remote and switched on the television, flicking through the channels aimlessly. She couldn’t find anything she wanted to watch and switched it off. She picked up the latest journal she had acquired flicking to the article on quantum physics. Half-way through she abandoned the pretence of reading and slumped back on the sofa to stare sightlessly at the fireplace.

Sam let the wave of discontentment roll over her giving into her mood. She reached forward and picked up the tea. She felt lonely, she realised taking a sip of the lukewarm liquid. After the past few days and spending all of her waking hours with Cassie, the empty apartment seemed just that; empty. Her apartment was a joke, she thought despondently. If she was honest, she had always considered it as simply somewhere to sleep between shifts at the base and it told in what she had done, or rather not done, to the place. Even her CO’s place had more homely touches and Janet’s house…she sighed heavily. Janet’s house was a proper home. Somehow the doctor had found time to decorate creating a cosy environment. It was perfect for Cassie who needed the stability of a proper home after the trauma of losing her entire world.

It had been hard, Sam admitted to herself, leaving Cassie with Janet. She had bonded to the little girl a lot since they had returned from Hanka with her. The added horror of realising Cassie had been used by the Goa’uld Nirtii as a bomb designed to wipe out the Earth Stargate had only cemented that bond further. The events of a couple of days before came flooding back to her painfully; leaving Cassie in the vault at the nuclear facility to contain the anticipated explosion; realising that there was a possibility the bomb was connected to proximity to the Stargate itself and returning, disobeying a direct order to stay with Cassie until the end of the countdown. She had been right and Cassie was fine; the bomb was being absorbed back into her body.

She loved the little girl and she knew Cassie loved her. Why wasn’t she prepared to offer Cassie a home? She knew her team-mates were all surprised that she hadn’t. Men, thought Sam furiously. Why did they automatically assume just because she was a woman she would want to raise a child? Her ire dissipated as quickly as it had come; her fingers worried at the buttons on her shirt. How could she have offered Cassie a home? She couldn’t even take care of her cat. Her apartment was tiny; her job was dangerous and she spent most of her time off-world. Logically, it made no sense; Cassie needed more than Sam could offer her.

Selfish. The word popped into her head with the brute force of a sucker-punch. The truth of it was she hadn’t wanted to change her life to accommodate a child. In the life plan she had drawn out in her late teens, children were something for her early thirties when she was established in her career and married. She liked her job; was that such a crime? Although, she reflected, she might not actually have a career after the stunt she had pulled; she had disobeyed a direct order.

The thought repeated in her head. Colonel O’Neill hadn’t brought it up with her yet. He had a fairly laid back style as a leader but she couldn’t believe he would let it slide. He had been his usual self during their time with Cassie in the park but they had all been off duty…she sighed. It bugged her to think that she might have lost his approval just as she had gained it after helping to keep the Goa’uld Hathor from taking the base.

And, Sam thought, even if the Colonel was prepared to overlook it, their base commander would not. Hammond would have read about her disobedience in the mission reports they had all submitted. She had tried to keep hers factual: Colonel O’Neill had given her an order to leave Cassie; she had explained why she couldn’t; she had stayed. She grimaced. Hammond was so not going to fall for that. Maybe that was why he had suggested she consider adopting Cassie herself…no, he hadn’t received the reports from the team when he had suggested that.

Sam pushed a hand through her blonde hair. When Hammond had raised the idea of Sam herself adopting Cassie she had just felt completely overwhelmed. She wasn’t ready to raise a child even Cassie who she loved. God, she didn’t even know how to raise a child. She had worked off sheer instincts with Cassie. Her decision might be selfish and motivated by fear, Sam thought, but Janet was the better candidate. One look at their respective abodes would confirm that to the nearest social worker. It wasn’t as though her own background provided her with a good example of parenting…her mother had died when she was a teenager and her father, a General, had…well, he had ran the house like a military operation.

The thought of her father had her reaching for the phone on a sudden impulse to talk to him. The phone barely rang at the other end before it was snatched up.

‘Carter.’

‘Hi Dad.’ Sam said. ‘It’s me.’

‘Sam?’ In his Washington DC home, General Jacob Carter muted the television and glanced at the clock. ‘Is everything OK?’

‘Sure. I was just thinking about you and realised we hadn’t talked in a while so…’ she cleared her throat awkwardly, ‘I thought I’d call and say hi.’

‘How are things in deep space radar telemetry?’ Jacob asked.

‘OK.’ Sam sighed. She wished she could tell her father the truth about what she did; he considered her cover of deep space radar telemetry to be beneath a daughter of his. ‘You?’

‘Same old thing.’ Jacob replied vaguely. There was a pause. ‘You heard from Mark?’

‘No.’ Sam rubbed her eyes tiredly. Her father and brother hadn’t spoken for years; Mark had blamed her father for their mother’s death and disliked the military with a passionate fervour. He had only maintained minimal communication with Sam since she had joined up. ‘I got a card from Hannah saying thank you for her birthday present though. You could call…’

‘Look, I’m kinda in the middle of watching something here, Sam.’ Jacob cut her off. ‘I’ll call you soon.’

The hum of the dialling tone had sudden tears stinging her eyes and she pressed the phone off and threw it across the room in a fit of temper. She closed her eyes. Why had she thought calling her father might make her feel better? Hadn’t she learned since her mother’s death that she would always have to deal with everything alone? She swiped at the moisture beneath her eyes and stood up swiftly. She was done moping in her apartment. She would head to the base and take a look at the artefact SG6 had come back with from P3X141. The door slammed shut behind her leaving only an echo around the stark walls.

o-O-o

Teal’c carefully turned the page on the book he was reading before he resumed eating his dinner with his free hand. He was occupying his favourite table in the commissary at the far back corner; it gave him a great view of the mess and its entrance. He was often in the commissary. He could claim it was only to satisfy his Jaffa appetite which was greater than a normal human male but in truth, when he had first arrived on Earth, he had often found himself craving the company of others as he struggled with the alien environment around him.

It had been a surprise to him. He had never needed the company of others before. The position of First Prime had elevated him from the troops and he had quickly learned not to form friendships with the Jaffa he led. Too often he would have to lead them into a battle he believed ill-conceived or put one to death on the whim of his False God. Friendships never lasted long; relationships could be too easily exploited by Apophis or by another Jaffa. He had taken comfort during the moments he could with his wife and son or sparring sessions with his mentor, Bra’tac, but ultimately he had been content with his own company.

But finding himself far from his home without his family and finally embarking on a fight against the False Gods, he had floundered. It had taken time for the bonds between the members of SG1 to form and he had often found himself alone in his small quarters between missions. There was only so much meditation he could do, only so much reading before the need to simply be around somebody else would drive him from the room. The commissary was rarely completely empty and had provided him with a place to feel less alone even if he remained apart from the humans around him. The commissary had become his favourite place.

He no longer suffered from the need that had driven him to the commissary before; SG1 had become a close knit team and he spent a lot more of his off duty time with one or more of his team-mates, that day’s visit to the park being the latest example, but every so often he still found his feet beating a path there. So, it was with a quiet contentment that Teal’c read his history on the American War of Independence and ate his dinner while letting the gentle hum of conversation and activity flow over and around him.

Halfway into a paragraph on the Boston Tea-Party, some inner instinct had Teal’c raising his dark eyes from the page and they widened in surprise at the sight of Captain Carter entering the room. He frowned. The team wasn’t scheduled to report for duty until the next morning and her presence was unexpected especially as he had anticipated the Air Force officer would be spending the evening with the child Cassandra. He suspected O’Neill and Daniel Jackson had imagined the same thing; all three of them had waved Sam and Cassie goodbye from the front of O’Neill’s house not long before.

It had been a surprise to him given the obvious bond between them that Captain Carter hadn’t chosen to raise the young girl herself but then the difference between the Jaffa culture and the Tau’ri in regards to females was something that still had the ability to catch him slightly off-guard. He had come to regard Captain Carter as a skilled warrior and he had determined to consider her decision in that light; that she had chosen to remain fighting the Goa’uld rather than raising the child was something he could relate to as a warrior even if he found it strange given her sex.

He was pleased when she spotted him and headed over. He rose partially from the table – a gentlemanly gesture that had Sam smiling briefly – before he resumed his place as she took hers. He frowned as he scanned her face. She seemed subdued and there was the faintest evidence in the redness around her eyes that she had been crying. He only just stopped himself from asking whether she was fine; he knew what her response would be given her usual tendency to present a strong front. He could only attempt to determine the source of her upset and fix it.

Sam unwrapped her cutlery from its napkin and placed the latter on her lap before she poked at the macaroni cheese she had chosen with suspicion.

‘Is something wrong with your food, Captain Carter?’ Teal’c asked.

She glanced up and was surprised at his fierce concerned expression. She half got the feeling that if she said yes, he would charge back to the serving hatch and demand retribution for her inadequate meal. ‘It’s fine, Teal’c.’ She sighed. ‘It’s my own fault for thinking I should chose something bland because…’ she stopped suddenly realising she was about to insult her CO’s barbeque.

‘I understand completely.’ Teal’c said in a heartfelt way that reassured her he really did.

Sam flashed him another brief smile before she took a hesitant mouthful and, when it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be, dug in with more enthusiasm. ‘What are you reading?’

‘A history of the War of Independence.’ Teal’c showed her the book. ‘It is a fascinating period in the history of your country.’

‘I guess there are some similarities with your own situation.’ Sam commented.

‘Indeed.’ Teal’c noted. ‘I hope one day all Jaffa will celebrate our independence from the Goa’uld.’

She smiled at him again.

Teal’c returned his attention to his own food for a little while before he determined it was time to test his theory on what was bothering her. ‘I did not expect to see you this evening, Captain Carter. I thought you would be occupied with Cassandra.’ Her imperceptible flinch told him he had successfully guessed the cause of her upset.

Sam gestured at him with her cutlery. ‘Cassie was tired and Janet thought she should rest.’

‘A wise decision.’ Teal’c murmured.

‘Yeah.’ Sam unwilling agreed. ‘Janet’s received permission to adopt Cassie.’ She fiddled with her fork and shovelled up another mouthful of macaroni cheese as she struggled with whether to say the rest of it. She sighed. ‘She also wanted Cassie to get used to it being the two of them. I mean with us being away all the time and…’

‘I see.’ Teal’c did see. He saw that his young friend was facing the consequences of her decision not to raise Cassie herself; Doctor Fraiser would become paramount in Cassie’s affections and Sam would cease to be as important to the child. The perceived or anticipated loss of the attachment was obviously at the root of her upset.

‘So,’ said Sam brightly, ‘I thought I’d make use of the spare time and come in. There’s that artefact SG6 brought back that I’ve been meaning to analyse.’

Teal’c saw through the false bravado with ease. The Air Force Captain had come in for the same reason he had ended up in the commissary during his early days with the team; she wanted company only she couldn’t admit it without ruining the independent and self-contained image she presented to the rest of the world – including her team-mates. He cleared his throat. ‘May I offer my assistance with the device?’

Her startled blue eyes flew up from her meal to meet his impassive expression. ‘You know what it is?’

‘I do not.’ Teal’c admitted. ‘But perhaps I could act as a sounding board for you, Captain Carter.’ He motioned with his book. ‘My own plans consist of nothing more than reading alone in my quarters.’ He waited for her to take the bait. His team-mate had a soft heart – as demonstrated by her relationship with Cassie – and Teal’c knew given the hint that he might want company she was unlikely to refuse him.

Sam’s face softened. ‘A sounding board sounds great, Teal’c.’

He refrained from showing any satisfaction and simply inclined his head.

o-O-o

‘Teal’c!’

The Jaffa turned from the coffee station at the sound of Daniel Jackson’s voice and greeted the archaeologist confused. He had believed Daniel had returned to his temporary home at Colonel O’Neill’s house, once he had dropped Teal’c back at the SGC base more than a few hours before. ‘Daniel Jackson. I was not expecting to see you this evening.’

‘Oh I popped in for a book I left in my office but one of the linguists was having problems with a language SG8 discovered and I got caught up in helping him. It’s very interesting really, we think the root is German but somehow an obscure version…’ Daniel stumbled to a halt at Teal’c’s raised eyebrow. ‘I guess I got a little distracted.’ He watched fascinated as Teal’c carefully poured a cup of coffee into an oversize mug with the emblem of the SGC printed on its front. ‘I didn’t know you liked coffee, Teal’c.’

‘This is for Captain Carter.’ They had been working without progress for a number of hours and Teal’c was gaining the distinct impression that the Captain was preparing to continue through the night in order to succeed in her mission.

‘Ah!’ Daniel nodded understandingly as he poured some coffee into his own mug. He frowned as Teal’c’s words registered fully. ‘Sam’s here?’

‘Indeed.’ Teal’c said quietly.

‘Why?’ Daniel demanded, his puzzled blue eyes meeting Teal’c’s.

‘I believe Doctor Fraiser requested Cassandra rest for the evening and become accustomed to Captain Carter’s absence.’

‘Well, I guess that makes sense.’ Daniel said, slowly taking a sip of his drink. ‘But that’s got to be tough for Sam. I mean Cassie’s practically been glued to her side since she met her.’

Teal’c inclined his head.

‘How is she?’ Daniel asked concerned as they began the walk to the elevator. Sam had become very emotionally involved with Cassie and she had been taken on quite a roller-coaster during the last few days.

‘She is attempting to determine the purpose of the device found by SG6.’ Teal’c responded.

‘No, I meant…’ Daniel stopped at the look Teal’s shot him suddenly getting the message. ‘Oh.’ Sometimes, the archaeologist mused, it wasn’t what Teal’c said but what he didn’t say. Obviously Sam was dealing with things by burying herself in work.

‘I am assisting Captain Carter.’ Teal’c continued.

Translation; the Jaffa was watching over her, Daniel realised. He wondered how he could offer to do the same without Sam getting suspicious. She wasn’t usually inclined to accept help and support; he blamed the military for forcing her into proving herself to be just as tough as the men. Even with Cassie she had seemed surprised when Daniel had pointed out to her she didn’t have to go through the experience alone.

‘I believe Captain Carter would also appreciate your assistance.’ Teal’c said as though he had read Daniel’s mind. ‘There are some unusual markings on the device.’

‘Really?’ Daniel beamed at the Jaffa. ‘I’d be happy to take a look.’

‘As I thought you might.’ Teal’c murmured.

They made their way to Sam’s lab in comfortable silence and found her muttering over the artefact. She looked up as they entered and blinked in surprise at Daniel.

‘Hi.’ He smiled shyly. ‘I ran into Teal’c at coffee and he told me there were markings?’

‘Yes.’ Sam said relieved if curious to see him. She accepted her coffee from Teal’c with a brief smile of thanks. ‘Would you mind taking a look, Daniel? We can’t make head nor tail of them.’

‘Sure.’ Daniel said happily. He stepped forward to the central workbench and peered at the device. It was a perfect square box, grey in colour, smooth to the touch and with markings on two of its sides, presumably the top and bottom.

‘What are doing here anyway?’ Sam asked as she slipped onto a stool. ‘I thought Colonel O’Neill was ordering you guys pizza.’

Pizza. Daniel winced as the memory of Jack’s warning to make it back in time for the pizza delivery zipped into his head. He’d forgotten all about it. He shrugged off the uneasy guilt that had settled around his shoulders and folded his arms. ‘I forgot.’ He admitted with a sigh. ‘He’s going to be mad.’

‘Maybe you should ring and apologise.’ Sam suggested.

Daniel blinked at her. ‘We’re only temporary house-mates, Sam. It’s not like we answer to each other or anything. I mean we’re not married.’ He said crossly, bending to focus on the device in the hope Sam would drop the subject.

Teal’c had often found the squabbling between the two men not to be dissimilar to that of a long wedded couple but he determined that it was best to leave his observation unspoken. He glanced over the archaeologist’s head at Sam who looked back at him with shared amusement.

‘I think I’ve seen these symbols before.’

Daniel’s comment had his team-mates’ heads whipping back to him.

‘You have?’ Sam asked incredulous. ‘Where?’

He adjusted his glasses and slowly backed off the device. ‘Wait here.’ He dashed out of the room leaving a bemused Teal’c and Sam behind.

Daniel returned within minutes with an open brown leather journal clutched in his hands. He briefly compared the symbols on the device with those scribbled on the page in front of him. ‘Here.’ He thrust the journal at Sam.

She recognised it immediately; it was Ernest Littlefield’s journal. The scientist had been the first man through the Stargate during the 1940’s and they had retrieved him only a month before. The building they had found him in had contained a room with four languages inscribed on the walls; the symbols on the device were the same as those of one of the languages.

‘This is incredible.’ Daniel said, pushing his hand through his long brown hair. ‘SG6 brought this back from P3X141?’

‘Yeah.’ Sam shook her head. ‘I don’t know why I didn’t recognise them. I stared at those symbols long enough when I scanned them into the computer model.’ She sounded annoyed with herself for not making the connection.

‘I also did not see the similarity.’ Teal’c said regretfully.

‘Well I spent more time in the room on the planet than either of the two of you.’ Daniel mused absently, his attention completely on the device. ‘We have to go back to P3X141. I mean who knows if there’s…’

‘It’s a wasteland, Daniel.’ Sam interrupted him. She plucked a mission file off a side bench and handed it to him. ‘The only thing they found anywhere close to the Stargate was some ruins. This was half-buried under a fallen rock. They searched the whole area to see if there was something else but this was it.’

‘No writings? At all?’ Daniel flipped through the mission report to confirm Sam’s explanation. ‘I don’t believe it. The device was just left in the middle of a desert?’ He looked at Sam askance.

She shrugged. ‘Do you know what the symbols mean?’

Daniel sighed. ‘Not exactly.’

‘Not exactly?’ Sam parroted.

‘It seems to be Latin based but we still haven’t been able to translate it fully yet.’ Daniel gestured wildly at the device. ‘We’ve been concentrating on the Norse language hoping if we can translate that we can use it as a template to translate the others and…’

‘Daniel.’ Jack O’Neill filled the doorway to the lab. Unlike the rest of his team he was dressed in civvies; khaki pants teamed with a black jumper and black leather jacket. He was also wearing an unhappy scowl and carrying a pizza box.

‘Jack.’ Daniel fidgeted with his glasses.

‘Did you forget something, Daniel?’ Jack asked sarcastically, entering the room.

Daniel sighed. ‘I got a little distracted…’

‘You always get a little distracted.’ Jack complained. ‘You could have called.’

‘You’re right. I should have called.’ Daniel said hurriedly. ‘I’m sorry.’

Sam couldn’t help herself; she giggled.

‘What?’ Both men said in unison.

‘Nothing.’ She plastered an innocent look on her face and avoided Teal’c’s eyes for fear she’d start giggling again.

Jack looked from her to Teal’c and back. He turned to Daniel and handed him the pizza box. ‘You are so finding another apartment when we get back from this next mission.’

The faint smell of baked bread, tomato and cheese wafted up to Daniel and his stomach growled. He opened the box up to grab the slice of pizza enthusiastically.

Jack sighed at the evidence that Daniel had obviously forgotten to eat dinner again and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he seemed to register for the first time that his whole team was present. ‘So…what’re you all doing?’

Daniel motioned at the device with his pizza slice. ‘We’re trying to find out what the box does.’ He stuffed more pizza in his mouth.

‘Sounds…’ Jack searched for a suitable adjective, ‘like you.’ He finished eventually.

‘Daniel’s worked out the symbols on the box are the same as one of the languages on the planet where we found Ernest.’ Sam explained.

‘Really?’ Jack’s interest perked up a bit and he moved up to the workbench to take a closer look at the artefact that his team so excited. ‘So what does it do?’

‘We don’t know.’ Sam said frustrated.

‘It does not appear to do anything.’ Teal’c stated.

Jack picked it up to get a closer look. Suddenly, the box lit up and light seeped through the edges.

All three of his team-mates stared at him.

‘What did you do?’ Daniel asked.

‘I didn’t do anything.’ Jack denied automatically. He put the box down and the light faded.

Sam reached for the device and grasped it firmly. There was no reaction. ‘Teal’c?’ She handed it to the Jaffa who turned the inert device over in his hands.

‘Now me.’ Daniel said brushing his fingers hurriedly on the front of his t-shirt to remove the crumbs. He held his hand out and Teal’c passed it to him.

Nothing.

‘Give it back to the Colonel, Daniel.’ Sam said, reaching for a measuring instrument on the side bench.

‘I’m not holding it.’ Jack said, refusing to take the box from Daniel. ‘Besides it was obviously a fluke.’

‘Well, we’ll know for certain if you try holding it again, sir.’ Sam said coaxingly.

‘Jack.’ Daniel said firmly. ‘Take the box.’

‘I’m not taking the box.’

‘Take the box.’

‘No.’

‘Take the box.’ Daniel took a step forward to thrust it into Jack’s hands and the Colonel took an instinctive step back to avoid him.

Sam giggled again and Jack shot her a dirty look across the room. She held a hand up in apology and bit down on her lip.

‘Oh for crying out loud.’ Jack reached forward and snatched the box from Daniel’s hands.

It lit up again and started to hum.

‘Keep holding it, sir.’ Sam moved to stand next to him taking the energy readings. ‘Strange.’ She muttered.

‘What?’ Jack asked.

‘Obviously there’s something about you that switches the device on.’ She explained.

Her blue eyes ran over him and Jack shuffled uncomfortably under her calculating gaze. He felt a little too much like a lab experiment.

‘We should run some tests.’ Sam said excitedly. ‘This could be important…’

‘No,’ Jack replied, setting the box down again where it once again deactivated, ‘we should go to bed.’

There was a stunned silence.

Jack glanced at Daniel’s shocked face to Teal’c’s raised eyebrow and back to Sam’s expression where initial surprise was giving way to amusement.

‘I mean we should all go to bed.’ He hurriedly corrected. ‘All of us. To separate beds. Alone.’ He gestured frustrated. ‘We have a mission first thing in the morning.’

Sam’s lips twitched. ‘Yes, sir.’

Jack sighed as Daniel smirked at him.

Teal’c took pity on the Colonel especially as it appeared Captain Carter was no longer as upset as she had been earlier in the evening. ‘O’Neill is correct. It is time for us to retire.’

‘Thank you, Teal’c.’ Jack said gratefully.

Daniel sighed and picked up Ernest’s journal. ‘I’ll see you guys in the morning.’

‘I’m giving you ten minutes and then I’m going to check your office, Daniel.’ Jack warned him as the younger man headed out.

Teal’c gave a short bow to both military officers and departed.

Sam waited until the Jaffa had left and she was alone with the Colonel. ‘Do you have a minute, sir?’

Jack hid his surprise. ‘Sure, Carter. What’s on your mind?’ He motioned for her to take a seat and slid onto a stool next to her.

‘About my disobeying your order, sir,’ Sam began nervously.

Jack repressed the urge to sigh and wondered how long she had been worrying over her action at the nuclear facility site. ‘Carter.’

‘I just want to explain if I can…’ Sam continued.

‘Carter.’

His insistent use of her name finally caught her attention. ‘Sir?’ Sam asked hesitantly.

‘You didn’t disobey a direct order.’ Jack said seriously.

‘I did.’ Sam said.

‘No you didn’t.’ Jack argued.

‘I did.’ Sam insisted. ‘Don’t you remember…’

‘I remember just fine, Carter.’ Jack said testily. The moments where she had ignored his calls for her to respond to the radio after she told him she was staying and Cassie was awake were etched into his mind. He sighed rubbing his hand through his hair. ‘Look, you made a decision in the field. You were there; you had what you believed was more up to date information about the situation than me and you made the call not to leave her.’ He held her eyes. ‘You were right.’

‘But…’

‘No buts, Carter. If anything the mistake was mine for assuming you didn’t have a logical reason for your return to the vault when I issued the order.’

‘You trusted me to do my job, sir.’ Sam said miserably unable to look at him.

‘And you did it.’

She was surprised into looking at him.

‘You did your job when you worked out the bomb thing, realised there probably wasn’t going to be explosion and went back to Cassie.’ Jack said quietly. ‘That’s what my mission report states; as does Teal’c’s although he uses less words, and as does Daniel’s, only,’ he gestured and gave a wry smile, ‘he uses more words. And they’re longer. Much longer.’

Sam was almost rendered speechless. ‘I didn’t have to stay with Cassie.’ She murmured, unwilling to let go of the idea that she had done something wrong.

‘No,’ Jack admitted, ‘and the rest of us didn’t have to stay in the building to wait out the countdown with you but we did.’

‘You…’ Sam’s eyes jerked to his. ‘You all stayed in the building?’

She hadn’t known, Jack realised. Why should she? He didn’t think any of them had thought to tell her and she had been in the vault; she must have thought they had followed procedure and cleared the building.

He held her gaze. ‘Of course we stayed. If we could have we would have been in the vault with you, Sam.’ He deliberately used her first name. ‘You know that right?’

She took in the faint tinge of disbelief in his voice that she could believe anything else and something shifted in her. She wasn’t alone, Sam realised.

‘You don’t have to do this alone.’

Daniel’s words came back to her and she smiled. She could handle things alone, she could, but she had her team and they were always going to be there for her. A bit like they had been that evening, Sam realised. That meant something; it meant a lot.

‘Thank you, sir.’ Sam said gratefully.

‘So we’re good?’ Jack asked.

She nodded.

‘Good.’ Jack stood up. Some whimsy had him picking up the box again. Nothing happened.

‘Huh.’ Sam stared at it. ‘Maybe it ran out of power.’

‘Maybe it’s just an ordinary box.’ Jack said putting it back down and heading for the door. ‘Well, I’d better go check Daniel didn’t take a detour to his office on his way to bed.’ He smiled over his shoulder at her. ‘You I trust to follow orders.’

His parting remark hung in the air.

Sam smiled at the empty doorway. ‘Yes, sir.’

fin.