Samantha Carter’s home phone shrill ring sounded and she moaned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and checked the clock on her bedside table. 4am? Who would be calling at 4am when she was on downtime? It must be an emergency Sam, thought as she reached over and snatched the handset up.

‘Major Carter speaking,’ she said alertly, the possibility of an emergency at the base had woken her right up.

‘Hey, sis, how are you?’ came her brother Mark’s voice over the line.

‘Argh, Mark! Its 4am in the morning and I’m on downtime! Can you call me back at some decent time? What are you doing awake at this time anyway?’ then after asking that last question she knew she had done the wrong thing, that had just invited him to continue interrupting her sleep.

‘Couldn’t sleep, but I called as a favour for my friend, he’s a cop, a decent guy, friendly, nice, good looking according to the ladies, a great catch,’ Mark started and Sam had to suppress a groan, she knew exactly where this was going. ‘He’s in Colorado Springs at the moment and I thought of you instantly when he rang me yesterday all lonely and feeling down.’

‘Mark! I am not going to go out with another of your friends, last time was bad enough,’ she protested.

‘What do you mean? David was a nice guy,’ Mark argued.

‘He ended up stalking me for two years,’ Sam said in a reasonable tone of voice.

‘But Sammy! This guy is different! I promise!’ mark pleaded.

Sam sighed and hearing the defeat in her sigh Mark pounced.

‘I promise, he is a decent man, he’s a cop,’ Mark finished. ‘He’ll be at the Coffee House in the Mall in the city tomorrow at ten-thirty, his name is Pete Shanahan. Thanks heaps, Sammy.’

‘Hey, I haven’t agreed to anything yet!’ Sam protested.

‘Come on Sam, please?’ Mark pleaded.

Sam sighed with resignation and agreed double checking the time and place.

‘Thanks heaps, sis, I owe you one,’ Mark said before saying goodbye.

Sam flopped back onto her pillows after replacing the phone and groaned loudly, she didn’t want to meet this random blind date her brother had set up for her, the last one had attached himself to her, preying on her compassion and making her feel guilty if she ever said no to any request for more dates. She never got close to him and he had tried to insert himself into her life further but she had stiffened her backbone one day and broken from him. Then had started the relentless stalking, at that time she had been new still at the SGC and had had to deal with the guy herself. She had gotten an injunction against him then when he had once again tried to contact her he had been arrested. Sam didn’t want to go through the same thing again, but if she did a no show the guy would most definitely tell her brother who would give her an ear full about treating his friends with so little respect.

Sam resigned herself to a difficult and probably uncomfortable day the next day and knew that she wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep. Inwardly cursing her stupid brother for having woken her at such an early time, Sam got up to go for a run, really the only thing she could do this early while on downtime.

Sam arrived at the Coffee House at exactly 1015, hoping to get there before the man and get a coffee, she looked around but there were only couples sitting at the tables and only couples lined up at the counter. So she joined the line to get her coffee.

Samantha sat down at a table by herself not noticing a couple of the men who were with their partners running their eyes appreciatively over her face and figure. She had never noticed such attention and had never even thought much of her looks; she thought her legs too long, her muscles too big, and her haircut too masculine.

Half an hour later Sam checked her watch and raised her eyebrows when she noticed that it was almost 1100, where was this guy? Typical that she was here ready to meet the guy and he doesn’t show how typical, Sam checked her watch again and decided to wait another half hour, she had actually been enjoying herself so far, drinking her coffee and watching the passing people. She loved people watching, she could almost guess accurately what they were doing, who the person they were with was and so on.

Sam was extremely surprised when five minutes later her Colonel walked by, he glanced her way, his eyes flickering quickly and appreciatively over her body before he glanced at her face and did a double take.

‘Carter!’

‘Hey, sir,’ Sam grinned at her CO, she had caught him checking her out and it amused her at how guilty he now looked.

‘Didn’t recognise you for a second then,’ he explained looking uncomfortable as he moved closer to her table which was on the outskirts of the Coffee House limits.

‘Evidently, I’m sure you wouldn’t have checked me out like you did if you had recognised me, sir,’ Carter replied with a teasing grin.

‘Yes... well,’ he said looking away in embarrassment.

‘It’s ok, sir, I’m sure I would have done the same to you,’ Carter said with a grin.

Colonel O’Neil’s eyes snapped back to her face in shock.

Sam smiled a secret smile.

‘So what are you doing here today? Grocery shopping?’ Sam asked changing the subject when the silence between them had become too charged.

‘Nah, just window shopping, Christmas is coming up and I was just looking around to see if anything caught my interest,’ Jack answered shrugging.

‘Christmas, sir, Christmas isn’t for another four months,’ Sam said with a laugh.

‘Yeah, so? That’s only four months and most of that time we will be unable to go to the shops,’ Jack answered with a roll of his eyes.

Sam thought about that for a moment and realised the Colonel was right, she had been doing a lot of last minute shopping the week before Christmas and she hated rushing through anything.

‘You’re right, sir, I can’t believe I never thought about it before,’ Sam told her CO.

He smirked at her.

‘So... Carter, what are you doing today?’ he asked looking at the empty chair across her.

Sam coughed uncomfortably.

‘Arhh... umm... my brother kind of set me up with a friend of his who is in town and I’m waiting him to show up,’ she answered with a sheepish smile.

‘Gee, Carter, I didn’t think you were that desperate that you had to rely on your brother to get you dates,’ Jack teased.

Sam glared at him.

‘He does it every now and then, and he doesn’t take no for an answer,’ she told him with a grumpy frown.

‘So where is the shmuck?’

‘He isn’t here yet, obviously, he’s late,’ Sam replied.

Jack felt angry at the guy, not only for being late for a date with Sam who really didn’t have to rely on anyone for dates, but also for even having the opportunity of dating Sam. He wished he had been the man’s position; he would never be in that position. Having Samantha Carter waiting for him at a cafe, waiting to meet him, waiting to date, and waiting for possibilities.

Jack inwardly huffed, he was not good enough for Sam, she was so young and energetic, so damn hot, and she didn’t even realise the half of her assets, he could tell, all the looks she was getting from passing men and she didn’t even notice them. He had a sad hope that it was because he was talking to her and that she would never notice other guys while talking to him but it was a forlorn hope.

Where was that guy she was waiting for anyway? Sam had already said he was late and he had been standing talking to her for at least five minutes. What was he thinking/ he didn’t want the shmuck to interact with Carter on any level, then he decided that he would do anything he could to stop the guy from meeting her. A sad goal, but he was a sad, old, lonely man. Jack O’Neil pulled out the chair opposite his second in command and sat.

‘Umm, sir, I am waiting for someone,’ she reminded him.

He grinned at her.

‘He missed out, didn’t he?’ he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sam shook her head at him but grinned back, he could make her grin for no very good reason, when she had first met him she had tried to control that impulse, after almost chuckling at him taking the mickey out of a Major. But she didn’t see any reason to control the impulse anymore; most people did just smile at the Colonel’s antics.

Sam checked her watch and noticed with extreme surprise that it was 1200, lunch time and the guy her brother had set her up with had definitely not shown up, not that she would have noticed if he had. The Colonel had kept her very occupied for the last hour and she had noticed nothing except his witty, sarcastic conversation, his deep brown eyes and his quirky smile.

‘Wow, I think the guy is definitely not going to be showing, and even if he did, I don’t like guys who are an hour and a half late to a date or whatever they would have called this,’ Sam said with a stretch of her back.

Jack watched her and relished the forbidden pleasure of checking her out without being noticed by anyone important. It was only normal people going about their normal lives who were going to see him checking Carter out and they wouldn’t say anything since they wouldn’t think anything of it.

‘So... you wanna go have some lunch and then maybe do some Christmas shopping?’ Jack asked her.

Sam smiled at him and nodded.

They’d finished their Christmas shopping for the day, both exhausted and just wanting to put their feet up and relax, so Sam invited him back to her place and they ordered pizza. They opened some bottles of beer and sat in her lounge and Sam switched on the TV.

‘So... Carter, have you ever thought about what we said while we being Zatarc tested?’ O’Neil asked without looking her way.

Sam choked on her piece of pizza and quickly swallowed to regain her composure.

‘Umm... of course... but... I thought we had agreed to leave it in the room,’ Sam answered also not looking at him.

Suddenly Jack shifted around and grabbed her arm to turn her towards him, he stared at her, deep into her eyes and she gulped at the intense look.

‘That’s fine, and I can wait until you’re ready to let it all out of the box, but I’m... I guess I’m tired, and I need something to keep me going. I’m old, Carter, and I know that you are young and vital and probably just had a bit of a crush on me. So I guess I just need and want to know if after... when it’s right... if...’ he couldn’t finish what he was saying and he became quite frustrated with himself, running his hand through his already messy hair.

Sam watched him and realised what he wanted to know, what he was unsure of. Colonel O’Neil needed to know if she would still be there, with the feelings she had spoken about in that room, for him, ready when the time was right to see what there was between them. Sam smiled slightly, very sad, their lives were so unfair but they were honourable officers and though the Colonel had broken many rules there were one that she knew he was proud that he had never broken. The Frat rule was important in a command structure, for not only the protection of female subordinates but also for the protection of the commanding officer’s reputation. While there was a non fraternisation rule in place even if people wanted to suspect a sexual relationship between her and the Colonel no doubt could be aspersions could be placed against their reputations.

‘Jack...’ and the Colonel turned to look at her sharply, she had never called him that unless in dire circumstances. ‘I haven’t dated anyone seriously since.’

He thought about that, thought about it for a moment then smiled at her and settled back into the couch to enjoy her proximity and the pizza.

 A news bulletin came on, an update between shows, normally Sam didn’t like to watch the news since she saw enough politics, wars and strife in her day job, but she half heartedly watched this one rather than bother changing the channel.

“This just in, today there was a horrible car crash downtown Colorado Springs involving two cars in a head on collision. One, a white rental car driven by Pete Shanahan was entering the Mall’s car park when he collided with a green commodore driven by a single mother Harriet Samson...”

Sam sat up, shocked.

Pete Shanahan, he was the guy she had been waiting to meet, the man whom her brother, Mark had set her up with. Sam reached over to the side table and snagged up the phone and began dialling.

‘Mark? Hey, I have some bad news... yes I did wait for him... no he didn’t show up... yes, I know why... will you please just stop and wait for me to tell you?’ Sam started. ‘thanks, umm... I was just watching a news update and it said that Pete Shanahan had been involved in a head on collision with another car... no I have no other details... yeah, he would have been take to the nearest hospital... okay, well let me know.’

Sam hung up and turned to Jack.

‘Well that explains why he didn’t show.’