Eight Week Series - Week 4
Eight Week Series - Week 4
by Jackie W.
Summary: Just when Jack thought he saw was making progrss
Category: Romance
Season: future Season
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
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).
Archived on: 03/26/04
Title: "Eight Weeks Series - Week Four: One Small Step for Man (1/1)"
Author: Jackie W.
Email: jackiesfic@aol.com
Rating: PG
Classification: SJ UST/Romance
Season: Season 7, immediately after Resurrection
Spoilers: None
Summary: Just when Jack sees the light at the end of the tunnel....
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and places are the property of MGM, World Gekko Corp and Double Secret Productions. This piece of fan fiction was created for entertainment, not monetary purposes, and no infringement on copyrights or trademarks was intended. Previously unrecognized characters and places, and this story, are copyrighted to the author. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Lt. Colonel James Spencer had flown fighters in the Gulf War in 1991, piloted spy planes over China in the mid 1990's and led dozens of Special Ops missions in the last 6 years, including several searching for Saddam Hussein just a few short months ago. Nothing in his top-secret past had prepared him for his latest assignment to Cheyenne Mountain. He had just completed a meeting with his new CO, General Hammond, who had given him an overview of the Stargate project, and the ongoing war with the Goa'uld. He was now sitting in a briefing room wondering if this was an elaborate hoax, or if the General had simply lost his mind.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of voices in the hallway. A moment later four people entered the room, still arguing in a friendly fashion. They stopped abruptly on seeing a strange face in the room. He barely had a chance to register anything about the group when Hammond entered from his office, and he jumped to his feet at attention.
"At ease. Lt. Colonel James Spencer, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c," Hammond efficiently made the introductions.
He had a chance to study each of them as they busied themselves getting settled. Teal'c would have been intimidating in most circumstances, but the gentleness he displayed as he helped Major Carter get seated, and took her crutches from her were in stark contrast to the obvious strength of the man. Dr. Jackson meanwhile had pulled up another chair and dropped the pillow he carried onto it so the injured Major could prop up her leg. He was the one that then offered a hand across the table in greeting to James before he turned to the coffeepot, and began pouring for himself and Colonel and Major who had both signaled they wanted a cup. The Colonel plopped down a load of files he was carrying in front of the Major with an exaggerated sigh.
"Sorry we were late, Sir. It takes an incredibly long time to get the Major mobile," the Colonel quipped, earning him a glare from the Major and raised eyebrows from Dr. Jackson, Teal'c and the General. Their reactions seemed to amuse the Colonel. "What? I'm just being honest! You'd think she'd never had a broken leg before."
"Actually, Sir. I haven't," the Major responded innocently, which caused O'Neill to look guilty, which in turn caused the Major to smile.
James had a feeling he was witnessing an often repeated battle of wits, and that the Major won more rounds than she lost. Looking at the Major as she grinned, he suddenly understood why. He suspected that if he were to be on the receiving end of that smile too often he'd cave and give her whatever she wanted. He sent up a quick prayer that this woman wasn't going to be on his team.
"Let's get down to business people," Hammond ordered causing everyone in the room to suddenly settle into silence. "Lt. Colonel Spencer is going to be taking command of SG8 now that Major Klein has transferred to Wright/Patterson."
The group nodded solemnly. Steven Klein's wife had died in childbirth, leaving him the single father of a newborn baby girl. With no family in the area, he had requested and been granted reassignment to a training post at Wright/Patterson where he would have a steady schedule. As an added bonus his wife's family lived in Ohio, and would be able to lend a hand.
"However, his team is on leave until next Monday since Captain Grainger has the flu, and rather than recall the others, I thought the Lt. Colonel could spend a few days with SG1. There is some equipment that is needed at the new Alpha site that you could deliver. That would give the Lt. Colonel some gate experience before leading his team through, and Colonel, you could give me a status on how you think the new site is progressing," Hammond briefed them. "Colonel, I expect you and your team to help get him familiar with procedures and the basics of what goes on here."
"Understood, Sir," Jack replied. It was still babysitting, but at least it wasn't a bunch of kids. And he was really itching to get a look at how the new alpha site was doing.
"SG4 is due back anytime now, so perhaps you can start by giving the Lt. Colonel an idea of how the Stargate works," Hammond suggested, rising and walking over to the window overlooking the Gateroom.
The blast door was down, so he hit the button to raise it up. He stood there as Spencer joined him and allowed himself to look at it through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time. It truly was magnificent and he could tell that the Lt. Colonel agreed by the sudden intake of air he heard from beside him and the soft whistle of appreciation.
"I'll let SG1 take over from here," he commented and retreated to his office as he heard Dr. Jackson begin to explain the symbols on the gate.
Soon after, SG4 returned and Spencer got to see the event horizon form. Once SG4 had walked through and the wormhole had snapped shut behind them, Sam began to explain the basics of how the gate worked. Spencer was mesmerized, not just by the physics, but by the woman explaining it to him. Daniel then explained the history of the gates, and after that they broke for lunch. By the end of the meal it was obvious to the three male members of SG1 that Sam had a new admirer. Daniel wasn't surprised when Jack suggested that he and Teal'c would give the Lt. Colonel a tour so that Daniel and Sam could go back to their labs and work. He figured Jack wanted to get the man away from Sam as fast as possible.
Daniel couldn't resist sounding out Sam as he escorted her back to her lab.
"So what did you think of Spencer?" he quizzed hoping she would think it was an innocent question.
"He seems sharp. Asked a lot of good questions. I just hope he's going to get over the..." Sam trailed off obviously embarrassed.
"The crush he's obviously formed?" Daniel teased gently.
Sam nodded. "That's the last thing I need to deal with right now."
Daniel paused not wanting to push, but knowing that with Janet gone Sam really had no one to talk to about any man troubles she was having. They had reached her lab, so he followed her in and shut the door behind him.
"How are things with Pete?" he asked cautiously.
"Over. He's called a couple of times, but I finally told him to stop. It was great while it lasted, but it's time to move on. I didn't want him to hold out any hope, especially since I already knew the relationship wasn't going any further than what we had."
"Which was?" Daniel probed.
"Fun, Daniel. We had fun. I liked him and he made me laugh, but it was never that serious on my part. I was hoping it would be, but it just didn't happen," Sam admitted.
"Why do you think that is, Sam" Daniel inquired.
"Why do *you* think, Daniel?" Sam replied sarcastically.
"Just checking," Daniel said, raising his hands in defense. "So you're not interested in just having fun with the Lt. Colonel?"
"Gosh, no!" Sam exclaimed. "I think that would be a great recipe for disaster."
"So I can tell Jack he can stop shooting daggers at the poor man?" Daniel switched back to teasing mode.
Sam paused. It had been on the tip of her tongue to say yes, but frankly she had enjoyed the fact that the Colonel had appeared to be jealous. He'd stayed so closed up through most of the time she'd been dating Pete she had started to think he didn't care anymore.
"Sam? You have a very evil grin on your face," Daniel cautioned.
"If it looks like things are getting out of hand you can tell him not to worry, Daniel," Sam relented.
"Otherwise?" Daniel inquired.
"A girl's got to have *some* fun, Daniel, and I promise not to lead on the Lt. Colonel or anything," Sam explained.
"I hope you know what you're doing." Daniel warned as he opened the door and left her to work.
"Me too, Daniel," Sam whispered.
Just as she had promised, Sam did nothing over the next day and a half to encourage the attentions of the newest SG leader, but that didn't stop him from being intrigued by the Major. While she played the perfect officer, he tried to break through the reserve. He practically ordered her to call him James or 'Spence', but she continued to 'Yes Sir' him to death much to Jack's relief. By the time they headed to the Alpha site on Wednesday, the Lt. Colonel was very frustrated and O'Neill was starting to find the humor in the situation. Especially since Sam had come to the locker room again to be with them as they geared up and Spencer had been embarrassed to have her see him only half dressed. Sam hadn't even batted an eye, having seen her teammates each in various states of undress before, and she chatted away as they finished putting on boots and vests, hats, holsters and sunglasses.
Sam for her part wouldn't have missed the locker room routine for anything. Truth be told, it was her favorite part of the mission. She worked with three gorgeous men and although on the outside she never let them know she was enjoying herself, she always secretly enjoyed the view. Today was no exception, and she had the added bonus of not having to fuss to get ready herself so she could just stand propped up in the corner and watch muscles flex and rears bend as they laced their boots. And because she was in a bit of a perverse mood, she even let her eyes linger on the one person she usually tried not to concentrate on. Damn, she'd almost forgotten what great shape the man was in.
Of course he caught her looking, his eyes clashing with her and widening a bit as he realized what she'd been up to. Before the moment could become awkward, she reminded him, "Don't forget to take care of yourselves. The bet's up to $100 now, Sir."
"Yeah sure, Carter. I have plans for that money," he assured her, and several minutes later they were gone, and she was on her own for two whole days.
At the Alpha site the group spent a busy couple of hours. Daniel and Teal'c helped unload and store the equipment and supplies they had delivered, while Spencer tagged along with O'Neill as he was given a tour of the updates made since his last visit immediately after the site had been established. Lunch was eaten on the run, and it wasn't until that evening at dinner that the four met up again. As expected, the Lt. Colonel had a lot of questions. O'Neill was actually impressed as the man had obviously been paying attention over the last few days, and was learning quickly. Then the subject sifted to their missing member.
"So how did she break her leg?" Spencer asked.
"She was swept off the trail we were taking by a mudslide a couple of missions ago," Daniel explained. "She was lucky. If the tree she hit hadn't stopped her I don't think she would have survived."
"If she hadn't grabbed the tree you mean," O'Neill corrected. When Daniel looked at him he realized that they hadn't seen the position Sam was in when he got to her. "She continued past the tree after she hit it Daniel, she just thought fast enough to grab onto it."
"So her leg snapped and she still had enough sense to grab the limb?" Spencer asked in amazement.
"Major Carter is a formidable warrior," Teal'c stated simply, as if that was explanation enough.
"She is that, T," Jack agreed. "She stayed conscious until I got down and secured her too. Even asked permission before she passed out," he admitted remembering the moment now with amusement.
"Yeah, what is with that? She sure takes the rules and regs to the extreme," Spencer commented.
"Well, her father is a retired AirForce General," Daniel told him.
"That's only part of it, Daniel. Carter *has* to be careful because everyone is always waiting for her to make a mistake. It's a sad fact, but there are still a lot of people in the military who don't think women should be in the field, especially in command positions. Each promotion she gets is that much more visibility and pressure on her. Now put her in a post on a flagship team of a top secret command and make her save the world on a daily basis, where even the President is watching her. She has no choice but to walk the line," Jack explained. "We're lucky, she's knows she can trust us so we get to see the real Carter occasionally. The one that loves an adrenaline rush, has a wicked sense of humor, gets really excited over naquada generators and has a heart as big as our solar system. To everyone else, she has to be the perfect Major all the time."
Daniel was surprised at the outburst. In the back of his mind he realized all of that, but Sam never complained about it, so he tended to forget how hard she'd had to work to get where she was today. More surprising though was to hear Jack O'Neill acknowledge it. Spencer and Teal'c for their part were nodding in understanding. Teal'c had always been impressed by the way his teammate could be a brother in arms, standing shoulder to shoulder with the best warriors he'd ever known, and yet still not loose the attributes that made her such an interesting woman. Spencer had been somewhat thrown by her formal treatment of him, but what O'Neill said made sense. Maybe there was still hope for him to break through her reserve.
"So is she single? Or seeing anybody?" he asked, his interest now revived.
There was a pause. Luckily he missed the glances that Daniel and Teal'c threw Jack's way or his curiosity would really have been peaked.
"Um, single, and no." Daniel answered. Seeing Jack's attention was now on him, he continued. "She broke up a few weeks ago with a guy she was seeing. The relationship had reached the point where he was more serious about it than her," he informed them, and watched as relief flitted across Jack's face.
He was happy to put his friend's mind to rest on that score. Of course there was still the matter of Spencer's interest in Sam to contend with. Despite Sam's request he decided to give Jack a heads up. Later as they were parting for the evening at their quarters, he managed to get Jack alone for a minute.
"She's not interested," he commented cryptically.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Daniel," Jack stated wearily.
"She's not interested in Spencer, but she didn't want me to tell you because she liked it that you were jealous," Daniel confessed. "And it's definitely over with Pete, most likely because of her feelings for you if you ask me," he added.
"Which I didn't," Jack pointed out.
"No, you didn't, so I'll butt out now. Good night Jack," Daniel said stepping into his quarters with a sigh. He certainly didn't envy his friends for the careful line they had to tread.
Meanwhile back across the corridor, Jack couldn't help the small ray of hope that was forming in his heart.
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to Jackie W.
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