Whee! By iamdragonrider
“Uh, Jack, this isn’t the way back to base,” piped up Dr. Daniel Jackson from the back seat of Jack’s spacious crew cab pickup, his blue eyes crinkled behind his eyeglasses. SG-1 had found themselves with some unscheduled downtime on a remarkably beautiful weekend in early September. When Teal’c had read an article advertising a large Farmer’s market just outside the city limits, combined with a craft show and flea market, he’d expressed an interest in seeing the Tauri version of an open market. The rest of SG-1 had readily agreed. The four of them had spent a most enjoyable day exploring all aspects of the large bazaar, and were heading home with slightly lighter wallets and an assortment of items in the back of the truck.
At least, they had been heading home.
Colonel Jack O’Neill spared the younger man a glance in the rearview, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses and further shadowed by the ever-present olive drab ball cap he wore over his short brown hair despite his casual civilian attire. “We’re taking the scenic route,” he supplied unhelpfully.
Exchanging a look with his seatmate, Daniel received only a shrug and a bemused look from the blonde Air Force Captain. Samantha Carter appeared equally clueless as she returned her blue-eyed gaze out the window, watching as clusters of suburban homes gave way to fields and distant farm houses. The woman seemed disinclined to question her team-leader’s motives, despite the fact they were all off-duty.
In the front seat, the fourth member of SG-1, the large alien warrior Teal’c, made no comment. He seemed just as as engrossed by the passing scenery as their female teammate, and the large, wide brimmed cowboy hat he wore low on his forehead to cover his distinctive gold tattoo also hid any facial expressions. Undoubtedly, the man was eagerly soaking up the sights of Earth. Despite having spent nearly a year on the planet, Teal’c had only ventured out of the mountain a handful of times and most of those trips on SGC business.
Unable to let things lie, Daniel decided to pursue his query. “We’re going a long way out of the way Jack,” he pointed out.
Jack shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road, which had started to twist and curve a bit more than when they’d been on the main highway, weaving it’s way through a variety of fields cultivated with various crops or devoted to pastureland. “I want to show Teal’c here something,” he supplied, tossing out another unhelpful tidbit. “Oh look, cows,” Jack observed, taking one hand off the steering wheel to point out the cluster of bovines.
Not to be so easily diverted, Daniel protested, “Ja-ack!”
In response, Jack pressed his foot on the gas pedal, the increased momentum gently pushing all of them back slightly into their seats.
“O’Neill, are we not accelerating to an unsafe velocity?” Teal’c spoke up finally venturing a comment and tearing his eyes away from the passing scenery as Jack guided the truck up a steep incline.
Still evasive, Jack merely replied, “Here we go kids!” The truck reached the peak, and as the nose of the vehicle tipped down the opposite side of the hill, they all experienced a brief moment of weightlessness as their bodies seemed to lift from their seats, held in place only by their seatbelts. Daniel gasped as he felt his stomach drop and Jack let out a whoop. Even Sam made a soft, surprised exclamation. Teal’c sat stiffly in the front seat and Daniel couldn’t see his face, but Jack must have been pleased with what he saw because he wore a big grin as he returned to watching the road.
“There’s another one coming up in a few minutes kids,” Jack explained, letting the truck slow slightly on it’s own as the road leveled out.
“Another what?” Daniel demanded, still reacting to the brief flash of adrenaline he’d experienced. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Sam grinning, her blue eyes sparkling. He might have imagined it though, because she quickly turned her head to look back out the window. Daniel frowned and ran his hand through his medium length brown hair.
“Daniel,” Jack said slowly, his voice tinged with disbelief, “Don’t tell me you don’t know about whee hills?”
“Is that what you’re calling it?” Daniel returned skeptically, evading the answer. He was familiar with the phenomenon, but there was no way he was telling Jack that.
Jack shrugged slightly, but before he could respond, Sam spoke up. “My Dad always found out where all the best whee hills were, no matter how many times we moved, and he usually went out of his way to make sure we hit most of them if he could,” she explained, a definite gleam in her eye. So he hadn’t imagined it earlier.
“Not you too, Sam?” Daniel protested in dismay. Sometimes he felt he and the young Captain were the only sane ones of the group, but lately, he’d been noticing the woman had a tendency to fast cars and high explosives. Sam only grinned back at him.
“I do not understand the purpose of this exercise,” stated Teal’c uncertainly. He was turned slightly toward Jack, and Daniel could see deep lines marring the dark features of the man’s face.
Jack frowned slightly, giving the other man a sidelong glance. “It’s just,” he paused, and then shrugged. “It’s just fun. Like, here’s the next one.” Again, they were all pressed back into their seats as he pressed the accelerator, and the pitch of the engine changed as the truck automatically shifted gears to compensate for the steep incline. Fortunately, they seemed to be the only ones using this rural backcountry road.
“Here we go!” Jack cried. Again, the truck dipped. Daniel didn’t miss Teal’c grabbing the “oh shit” bar mounted on the dash in front of him, nor his sharp intake of breath. He’d expected Jack’s cheer but was only marginally surprised to hear Sam joining in with a delighted exclamation of her own. Daniel’s lips betrayed him as they allowed a brief sound of enjoyment cross them.
The truck slowed again. “You know, I think we’ll have to come this way more often,” Jack stated with conviction. Sam beamed openly, and Teal’c surprised them all by adding in a quiet “Indeed.”
Daniel shook his head slowly, but there was a smile tugging at his lips. Still, he grabbed the armrest as he felt the truck speeding up once more. “This is the last one,” Jack announced over the increasing sound of the engine.
This time, they all joined in.
“Wheeee!”