One Percent
One Percent
by Jojo
Title: One Percent
Author: Jojo
Email: randomleaves@yahoo.co.uk
Category: Romance
Season: any Season
Pairing: Sam/Jack
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: Jack has a bad day.
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Daniel sat on a warm rock and contemplatively chewed his ration bar. It didn't taste of much - it was maybe a little oaty, with a dash of sawdust for added flavour - but it wasn't really the taste that kept him going. It was more the motion of his chewing and grinding up the food in circular motions; repetitive and soothing. That and the fact that there was frankly more interesting things to be doing than tasting his food.
Watching Jack, for instance.
Jack, who was having one of his 'Sam' days.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, Jack was the ever efficient, veteran, occasionally - okay, frequently - sarcastic Air Force Colonel. He quipped, he complained about trees/scientists/rocks, but he got things done. He barked orders with an air of authority and few people in the SGC would attempt to correct him or go against his word. Respect was the name of the game with Jack and though he probably didn't realise it, most of the SGC viewed him with a kind of awe that verged on worship.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, Jack was Colonel O'Neill, in other words.
One percent of the time, Jack had a 'Sam' day, and Jack stayed Jack.
When Daniel's watch beeped subtly, casually he leaned towards where Teal'c was sitting about a metre to his left. '' I got thirty-four,'' he whispered.
'' As did I, DanielJackson.'' Teal'c smiled and reached into his vest pocket, pulled out a small notepad and pen. '' It is a new record.''
Daniel grinned, and went back to his study, carefully running his tongue along his teeth to search out the inevitable remains of his lunch.
Sam was currently sitting on the dry, cracked ground, her legs spread in a 'V' with her laptop resting between them, her fingers running adeptly across the keys as she recorded the data that was being produced from the machine on her right. Temperature, humidity, radiation - and other far more technical, scientific data that made far more sense to her than it did Daniel. The heat had forced her to remove the majority of her layers and she was down to her desert camo shorts and a white tank top that she'd been wearing underneath the standard black T-shirt. She had asked permission to remove most of her uniform since the data she was collecting could only be done in direct sunlight and she wouldn't be able to hide in the shade like Daniel and Teal'c were doing.
Daniel glanced up at the skeleton leafed tree that was acting as their 'shade'. Then he pulled his handkerchief out of his pocket and rolled it into a bandana before wrapping it around his forehead. He needed another haircut.
Jack sighed, drew his eyes from Sam's back, and turned around. Daniel grinned, watching as Jack closed his eyes in a pained expression.
As a matter of clarity, Daniel had to admit this wasn't one of those days where Jack was Jack from morning to night. In fact, it had started off as a normal mission. Jack was sarky, Sam was patient, Daniel was bored (no artefacts), and Teal'c was sober. Up until Sam had started moving her clothes, everything had been normal. Then, casually, she'd asked her CO if it would be all right to remove her uniform.
These words exactly:
'' Sir, can I take off my uniform?'' She'd grinned mischievously behind her sunglasses and the shade provided by the peak of her cap.
After that, Jack's imagination had obviously, perhaps unsurprisingly, gone into overdrive. He'd understood what she'd meant, of course, and they'd all politely averted their eyes as Sam stripped down to the minimal. After that, she'd become so involved in her work that she hadn't noticed that Jack, still fully dressed, was staring at her back so hard Daniel had been worried Sam might feel it.
Daniel had been about to clear his throat pointedly in an effort to remind Jack of the proprieties (well, it wasn't as if she was naked, but that didn't seem to matter for Jack), when Jack had pulled his eyes away and quickly scanned the horizon. Settling back, Daniel had relaxed.
Until the next time Jack's eyes had strayed. Then moved away. Then strayed. Then moved away.
Thirty-four times in five minutes. Daniel and Teal'c had been counting.
A low 'Sam' day, was about ten times in five minutes. Jack was usually quite relaxed on those days. A medium Sam day would be about twenty times in five minutes. So Jack was... occasionally grumpy, a little stressed. A high 'Sam' day, was thirty times in five minutes.
This was worse than a high 'Sam' day. Any moment now, Daniel predicted, Jack was going to make his stress known. And it was probably going to be spectacular.
In the grand scheme of things, on a 'Sam' day, the whole of SG-1 would come back in a bad mood. It was a good thing it only happened one percent of the time or Daniel just might have shoved the two of them into a room and insisted they had sex if only to get the damn thing over and done with.
As it was, he was resigned to letting nature take its course. Even if it pissed everyone off in the process.
'' Carter, will ya get a move on?''
Anyone else would have cringed and 'yes' sirred until the cows came home. Not Sam. Sam argued back. She was probably the only one, apart from Daniel, who outright argued with him.
'' Sir, I can't process the data any faster than this. You're going to have to be patient.''
'' I'm sorry - was that a professional suggestion, Major?''
Scowling down at her computer, Sam hunched over further. '' No, sir,'' she muttered. '' Sorry, sir.''
Oooh, that 'sorry' was really gonna gripe.
For a moment, Jack's jaw clenched down real hard, the muscle in his jaw flickering as he glared daggers at her partially exposed back.
'' Sam?'' Daniel spoke up, trying to delay the inevitable. '' Did you put sun screen on this morning?''
Sam sighed. '' Yeah, Daniel.''
'' You know you're supposed to reapply it regularly, right?''
'' I was gonna take a break in a few minutes, but the Colonel's obviously in a hurry.''
'' In that case,'' Daniel said, inspiration suddenly hitting him, '' Jack can put it on for you while you work.'' Trying not to grin, Daniel leaned forward and opened up his pack, scrabbling amongst the mess that usually filled his pack. Oh, there's where that book went. Spare set of glasses. Sunglasses. Bandana. Apple. Broken... test tube. Ah-hah! '' Here you go, Jack.'' He tossed the sun screen to Jack, who caught it automatically, that startled rabbit expression still on his face.
Sam had frozen, her fingers mid-type on the keyboard.
Jack's face shifted. He glared at Daniel, then smiled, tightly. '' Carter, take five. Reapply.''
Daniel rolled his eyes.
'' Yes, sir.''
She saved her program, draped a shirt over the laptop and turned to catch the sun screen being thrown at her and went to sit on the rock next to Daniel. The sun screen pooled smoothly into the palm of her hand as she dabbed and rubbed, dabbed and rubbed, all the while oblivious to the scorching looks she was getting from Jack.
This was ridiculous, Daniel decided suddenly. They seriously weren't going to do anything about this.. thing they had. It was beyond ridiculous. It was practically criminal. The Air Force couldn't tell them what to do down to who they loved, could it? That was just.. just wrong. Love was so fleeting - surely both Sam and Jack realised that. Realised that what they had now could be taken away from them so quickly, just like Share had been taken away from him.
Just thinking about it like that made Daniel angry. Like it always made Daniel angry.
'' For God's sake!'' he exclaimed, looking from one to the other.
Quietly, where no one could see him, Teal'c pulled out the same notepad he'd used to record Jack's thirty-four and noted something else down.
Jack dragged his eyes away from Sam, who was now discretely applying to her upper chest. '' What is it, Daniel?''
'' Who the hell do you think you're kidding?''
Sam paused, looked over her shoulder at him. She saw that Daniel was alternatively glaring between herself and Jack, and she sighed. '' Don't, Daniel.''
'' No, I'm not going to be fobbed off this time,'' Daniel said hotly, '' I've had enough. Why do you let him talk to you like that when you know the reason he's doing it?''
Sam flushed and looked down at the smudge of white in the palm of her hand. '' Because.. there's nothing else to do about it.''
'' Daniel, I'm not going to pretend I know what you're talking about.....''
Daniel scoffed. '' Bullshit. Next you're going to tell me that your eyes haven't been glued to her for the past ten minutes.''
Under his almost permanent tan, Jack flushed. '' Daniel,'' he said warningly.
'' Daniel,'' Sam warned.
He threw up his hands. '' Come on, guys! It's like watching some farcical play only it's not funny.''
Sam closed her eyes and shook her head, went back to her re-application. She looked pale all of a sudden, pale and miserable. Daniel was almost sorry he'd brought it up.
Almost.
Someone had to beat this into their heads, right? Someone.
'' DanielJackson, I believe they are right.''
What?
'' What?'' Daniel exclaimed, turning his heated gaze on Teal'c.
Teal'c inclined his head. '' The guidelines upon relationships within the United States Air Force are quite explicit, and are put in place for good reason. It would be unwise, both professionally and personally for O'Neill and MajorCarter to ignore these guidelines.''
Daniel couldn't believe it. Teal'c agreed with them? Teal'c. All this time he thought, though they'd never said a word on the topic, Teal'c had agreed with him too.
'' You agree with them?''
'' I do, DanielJackson.''
'' But.. but... you know what it's like to lose someone you love.''
Teal'c expression closed up slightly. '' I do, DanielJackson. The situation is, however, different.''
'' How can you say that?''
'' Daniel,'' Jack said furiously, looming over Daniel threateningly, '' if you don't shut up now, I'll toss you through that Stargate and make sure you never work on an SG team ever again.''
Daniel made an indefinable frustrated noise and lay back on the rock, hands over his eyes. '' I give up,'' he announced. '' Go ahead, screw with your lives. I don't care anymore. Wake me up when it's time to go home.''
It looked like SG-1 were, once again, returning home in a unanimously bad mood.
Damn that one percent.
THE END - my fic at www.geocities.com/randomleaves/
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Jojo
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