From the conference room she watched as the last of the stranded SG teams returned through the Stargate.  Once the inhibitor algorithm she wrote with assistance from Lee proved the remedy to the power discharge everyone seemed to go on auto pilot.  Med-teams were stationed in the Gate room, ready to receive any team members who may have injuries.  For the most part all returned well, happily greeting each other with jovial thumps on the back. 

Each time the Gate's event horizon surged forth she felt her heart quicken.  Standing there she finally exhaled a breath she was certain she had held since arriving.  Her job was done.  The problem was solved.   For the last day her sub-conscious was doing cartwheels but outwardly she maintained a cool focus upon the problem.  She was good at compartmentalizing. Now, unconsciously she gave herself permission to appreciate what she was witnessing and the enormity of the moment. She was entirely unaware of the smile that spread across her face.

"Now that is more like it."  She heard from behind her.  Turning, she sees Colonel O'Neill leaning casually against the doorway. 

Realizing she had been caught indulging in a flight of fancy, she once again settled her countenance.

"I beg your pardon Colonel?"

"I knew you had it in you." he drawled.  Pushing himself from the doorway, he walked towards her.

"I don't understand your meaning."

"Well, I was wondering when it would finally get to you."  He replied, motioning to the window looking over the gate room.  "The gate.  When you got here yesterday I was surprised you weren't more excited. Glad to see you're no different from the rest."

Not answering him immediately, she studied his face.  The stern, controlled look he had from the time she met him over 24 hours earlier was gone, replaced with a tired but relaxed and handsome softness, especially around his eyes.

"Who would be the "the rest," as you put it?"  Changing her stance with her reply, she folded her arms across her front and drawing herself straight, despite the ache in her back from the hours at the computer terminal.

"Usually, when one your type first gets a look at the gate, it takes all they got to not bust out of their lab coats."  The softness of his eyes sparked with a cock sureness.

Tipping her chin down to inventory her attire; her once crisp grey suit was now wrinkled.  The starched collared blouse was unbuttoned.  She did not remember loosening the buttons.  Likely she did it absentmindedly to rub her sore neck.

Raising her eyes once more to the Colonel she allowed a slight smirk to her lips.

"I don't appear to be wearing a lab coat Colonel."

His eyes traveled from her face down to her long legs then back up.  For some reason his intentional perusal only came up as far as the top button of her blouse, settling on the slight span of skin exposed by her loosened collar.  "No, I guess not." He ultimately replied.

Watching him, Sam's smirk turned to a frown.  Why do men's 'elevator eyes' never make it back to the top floor? she thought.  Deciding that the banter had gone far enough she stepped away from the window toward the conference table.

"I take it all the teams made it back okay?"

"Yep, last one just came through." 

"And Captain Steele?"

"Her injuries are severe.  She's in the infirmary under sedation.  We are calling in a few specialists to see to her." It was then Jack noticed the satchel sitting on the table.

"Ready to leave us so soon Doctor?"

She regarded her bag.  It was her workout bag.  Change of clothes, sneakers, underwear, and her toiletries.  She had grabbed it from her office.  Her office, George, Damn, she thought, I need to call him, tell about the surveillance.

She huffed an exhausted sigh. 

"I was hoping to get a ride to a hotel in Denver where I can get a shower and find out if there is a flight available back East this afternoon."

Watching her shoulders roll forward in tiredness, before his brain could stop his mouth he heard himself say, "You can't."

With this comment, Sam regarded him coolly.  She had made it clear to General Hammond that she had no intention of staying on at Cheyenne.  Despite his assurances of full disclosure of the surveillance, she refused.  While she may have signed a disclosure with the Air Force, her research was independently documented.  There was nothing to stop her from continuing her research without the involvement and interference of the military.

As for the unsolved mystery of the tampered program, she figured that's their problem now.

Jack recognized the current look on her face.  It was the same look she gave Hammond, right before she tore into him upon finding out about the surveillance of her and her research.  Jack O'Neill was fairly certain that he had handled every form of explosive known on Earth without loosing a limb.  If he could make it through the next two minutes, he just may add Dr. Samantha Carter to the list.

"You'll miss the party."

"Party?"

"Yeh, it's tradition.  Successful conclusion to a major crisis must always be followed by a party, with cake." he added emphatically.

"Cake?"

"And beer.  Listen the Air Force would be more than happy to put you up in a hotel for the night.  Stick around for the party.  Well maybe not a party as much as a gathering at our local watering hole.  But I'm pretty sure there are a few dozen men and women who would like to buy you a drink.  I'll talk to Walter; he'll make a reservation for you downtown.  I'll drive you myself.  We can get breakfast on the way."

Sam contemplated refusing him and insisting all she wanted was a place to clean up and a flight back home.  Perhaps for the same reason she did not send him and Dr Jackson away in Boston, she found herself, against all better judgment, accepting the Colonel's offer.

"You guys better have Sam Adams out here because I refuse to drink that Rocky Mountain swill."

__________________________________________

Pulling up to the diner, Sam once more questioned what it was she was doing.  Somehow she had not only agreed to stay in Colorado Springs for the night but to go for breakfast with Colonel Jack O'Neill.   Jack turned to her with a quirk of a smile.  

"You ready for the best damn Denver omelet you will ever have in your life?"

"So long it comes with copious amounts of coffee."

Chuckling he exited the truck and headed to her side.  Maybe it was the fatigue, but she was usually much quicker at opening her own door.  Suddenly he was before her, door open and a proffered hand to assist her out.

Once inside the diner Sam excused herself to the ladies room.  Finding his usual table Jack waited for the waitress to bring over a set of menus.

"Suga', where you been lately."

"Oh you know how it goes Patty." He said with a wink to the plump waitress.

"Where are those friends of yours this morning?  You know the cutey with the glasses and Mr. Hunk Hunk of Burning Love." 

"Sorry to disappoint Patty, just me and the lady."  Jack nodded in the direction of the bathroom just as Sam came out. 

"Oh, what have you caught yourself there?" 

"Not sure Patty, but I'll let you know as soon as I do."

"What'll it be?"

"Two Denver omelets and two coffees." Leaning over to the Midwestern cherub his quietly added, "Decaf for the lady, please."

"Comin' right up"

Patty turned to the kitchen passing Sam as she came up the table. As she did Patty whispered conspiratorially, "Good luck, darlin'."

__________________________________

The breakfast was as promised.   Only she wasn't sure about the coffee.  Three cups and she felt no more awake, her eyes growing heavy as the Colonel pulled onto the road.  By the time he reached the first traffic light he could make out a faint snore from his passenger.

Walter had called him as they ate.  He had made a reservation at a local motel and arranged a charter from the Springs to Denver for the next morning.  Her flight out of Denver was for later in the afternoon. 

As he waited for the light he found himself at another kind of cross road.  Turn left he would be heading towards the hotel Walter had made a reservation at, which was 30 minutes across town.  Or, turn right towards his house, a short five minutes away.

He flicked on his blinker, the light turned green and he made the turn.

_________________________________________________________

1763 miles East, Boston Detective Norman Parker stepped onto the third floor landing of a Beacon Hill brownstone.  He nodded a greeting to the uniform officer standing outside the apartment door.

"Norm, about time you got here."  was the greeting from his partner.

"Later Luis, what ya got?" 

Detective Luis Gonsalves surveyed the wreckage of what was once fairly nice place.

"Downstairs neighbor called it in.  She got back from Hong Kong early this morning to find the cat at her door.  She came up here, door wide open.  CS techs say there is no sign of forced entry."

Walking back to the kitchen Luis and Norm stopped short from entering.

"She found the vic here."  Luis pointed to the covered body lying on the floor.  A pool of blood, now longed dried, peeking out from the covering.  "Swears she touched nothing, got the hell out and made the call."

"So, she know this guy?"

"No, apartment belongs to a Doctor Samantha Carter.  She's at MIT.  Neighbor's been gone for two weeks.  No idea where the she is."

"ID on the vic?"

"Yea, wallet, watch, nothing missing.  This poor bastard is Doctor Ned Karlanski.  Professor of Theoretical Physics, MIT."

Before he could continue, Luis' cell rang.  Taking the call, Norm walked back to the front room.  The entire place had been tossed.  Stepping over to a desk he looked under it noticing a bare, rectangular impression in the carpet.  PC? He thought.

Hearing Luis walk back in, finished with his call, he straighten and turned to his partner.

"That was the uniform I sent over to this Carter's office.  Says it looks the same as the apartment.  Both Karlanski and Carter were last seen yesterday. There was some kind of presentation. After that no one saw Carter.  Karlanski made it to his office in the late morning.  His assistant says he got a call shortly before 5 PM then left without a word."

Norm continued to step around the apartment, careful to not disturb the anything.

"And she didn't think it odd he never showed up this morning?"

"Says no, Karlanski had a vacation planned for this week.  She figured he headed down to the Cape early."

"The Cape, uh? Don't suppose he was meeting Carter there?"

"Not likely, he rented a house in Provincetown."

Noticing a cracked, framed photo of an attractive blond standing with a shorter brunette in a wedding dress and a groom, who bore a close resemblance. Brother, perhaps?

"So, leggy blonds not his type?"

"Just not the ones of the female persuasion."

"Alright, you finish up here.  I'm heading over to Carter's office. Let's see if someone there can theorize why one of their Einstein's is missing and another has bullet in his head."