The Shopping Cure
The Shopping Cure
by Laura Y
TITLE: The Shopping Cure
AUTHOR: Laura Y
EMAIL: mrdrdoc@hotmail.com
CATEGORY: Missing Scene/Epilogue, Humor
PAIRING: Sam/Jack
SPOILERS: Ascension
SEASON / SEQUEL: 5
RATING: G
CONTENT WARNINGS: none
SUMMARY: After Orlan leaves, Sam has to get a new toaster and microwave.
STATUS: Complete
ARCHIVE: Heliopolis
DISCLAIMER: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. We 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 authors. Not to be archived without permission of the authors.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: For the ultimate beta-reader, Jamie/Treena, who had better write one of her own soon.
"Hey, Sam, wait up!" Daniel jogged down the hall, calling to his friend as she was about the get on the elevator. She held the door open for him, and as he walked the last few metres, he took the chance to study her more closely.
Ever since Orlan had gone back to join the Others and the weapon on P3R 636 had been destroyed, she'd been a little withdrawn. He couldn't blame her, really, for feeling that her friends and coworkers had betrayed her. In fact, he knew just how she felt, the same thing had happened to him, except he had been just a little bit further along the crazy axis at the time.
"So, got any plans for tomorrow?" He winced as she gave him a dirty look. He knew that everyone had been treading lightly around her for the last week, and that all she needed was one more person checking to see if she was OK. "I'm asking because we thought we'd all go to a movie. If you're free, that is. If you've got plans, it's fine, Jack and Teal'c and I will go, and you do whatever you have planned. If you have plans."
"Actually Daniel..." she began.
"No, that's fine, since you're doing something already, we'll just go, the three of us. Have a good time, doing...whatever it is that you have planned. I'm sure you will, why wouldn't you...have a good time, that is..." His voice trailed off as he realized that he was babbling.
Sam smiled and took pity on the man, he really was just trying to be nice, and he hadn't been hovering nearly as much as Janet and the General had. "Actually Daniel, what I was going to say is that I need to do some shopping, but a movie would be great."
"Really? Well, why don't we go to the theatre in the mall? You can do your shopping before the movie, we'll come along."
"You want to come shopping with me?" Her incredulous look made him smile.
"Sure, why not? Teal'c loves shopping. It gives him the chance to feel morally superior to the Tau'ri who have more than they could possibly need and still want more." He grinned as he remembered the first time he and Jack had taken the large jaffa to the mall. "I'll tell Jack and Teal'c, and we'll meet you there."
"Shopping?" Jack's tone was the same as Sam's had been as he followed Daniel into his lab. "You told Carter that we'd love to go shopping with her?"
"Well, I said that Teal'c loves shopping, and he does."
"OK, that's true." Jack sighed and added, "I'm sure that Carter's a good shopper, not like most women."
"Come on Jack. Sam could use our support right now. She's had a tough time, and you didn't help."
"What do you mean, I didn't help? As I recall, all of us thought that she was nuts, it wasn't just me." He fought against the wave of guilt that he felt when he thought about how they'd all dismissed her claims and just told her to 'take it easy'.
"Well yes, but I think that she was more hurt by the fact that you wouldn't believe her than the rest of us. Plus, you've been avoiding her for the last week," he gave Jack a steady look when he was about to protest. "If I can tell Jack, she has to have noticed. She did what she was supposed to do, she followed protocol and look what happened."
"So help me Daniel Jackson, if you start going on about the military-industrial complex I'm gonna..." O'Neill made a choking motion with his hands, but Daniel was too busy gaping at him.
"Military-industrial complex?"
"What?"
"Jack, you have been listening to me."
"Not on purpose. Daniel, you just talk so much, it's impossible not to absorb some of it."
"Really."
"Yes, really. What time are we meeting her?"
"Meeting her?"
"Carter? Shopping? Movie? Tomorrow?"
"Oh. Oh, right. Sorry, I was...military-industrial complex?"
"Ah!" With that final exclamation, the Colonel threw his hands in the air and left Daniel in his lab, shaking his head with a bemused smile on his face.
"Hi Sam!"
"Hey Carter."
"Major Carter."
"Hi guys, how's it going?" Sam joined the three men, as they were about to enter the mall.
"So, Sam, what are we here to buy?" Daniel asked the obvious question.
"Ah, appliances."
"Appliances? As in fridges and ovens? Daniel, you didn't warn us that this was movie going to involve heavy lifting."
"No, sir. A toaster, actually. And a microwave."
"Why do you require new kitchen appliances?"
"Well, they...broke. Last week."
"Last week. Would their breaking have had anything to do with the Special Forces invasion of your house?"
"In a manner of speaking."
"Ah. Well, lead on then. Onward to the minor kitchen appliance store." Jack waved his arm in a grand sweeping gesture.
"Right."
"Jack, Sam. Teal'c and I are going to head over to the CD store. I'm determined to sway Hammond's country music chokehold from him. We'll meet you at the theatre, OK?" He smiled at Jack's dirty look.
"Yeah sure, have fun. We'll go buy appliances." He knew that Daniel would find a way to get him and Carter alone, since he figured that they'd talk about what happened, and get everything back to normal. He sighed, that guy really had no clue about real life sometimes.
"Colonel, you don't have to escort me. I've been buying appliances on my own for a long time. If you'd rather be with them..."
"No Carter, I want to be with you. Come with you. To the appliance store. To buy a toaster." He cleared his throat, and hoped that he didn't look as red as he felt. "Let's go."
As they walked over to the store, he mentioned something that had been on his mind for the last week. "Carter, if you're interested, I have a friend who will come and look over your place." At her blank look, he clarified, "To make sure that all of the bugs are really gone. He's got these great little detectors..."
"Oh, that's OK." He raised his eyebrow in an imitation of Teal'c. He knew she had to wonder if any of the listening devices remained in her house.
"I, ah, made one." She gave a small shrug.
"You made one."
"Yeah."
"Youmadea bug detector."
"Uh yeah. It really wasn't that hard. Plus I wanted something that would sweep for high frequency signals as well as those on the typical radio frequencies..." She trailed off, smiling, as he groaned.
"Major, you are the only person I know who would actually build a bug detector to sweep her house." He wore the proud smile he usually reserved for when she figured out some impossible problem or saved the world.
She ducked her head as she felt the familiar warm feeling that look gave her. "Well, sir, I didn't want to request an official sweeper. I didn't want anyone to think I was paranoid or anything."
He winced and nodded. "Ouch. I guess I deserved that."
"Yes, I guess you did." Her eyes widened as she realized what she'd said. "Colonel, I'm sorry, I..."
"It's all right Carter. I understand. You have every right to be angry with me. I'd be mad as hell in your place."
"I'm not mad." At his disbelieving look, she repeated, "I'm not. Really. I'm...disappointed. I expected you, all of you, to back me up. Objectively, I know why you didn't. We did the same thing to Daniel when he was infected with Machello's Goa'uld killer."
"Disappointed. Geez Carter, mad would be better. Mad is easier to get over. I don't know how to make you believe that you can trust us again."
"It's not that I don't feel as though I can trust you. I trust you with my life, all of you. I just wish you hadn't all been so quick to believe that I had lost my mind. I know that I'm focused on my work. I know that I don't have much of a life outside of the SGC. I don't have a problem with that, why does everyone else?
"I'm lucky enough to have a job where I love what I do. Why should I have to spend time doing things that I don't love just to convince everyone that there's nothing wrong with me? It's not fair. I don't golf. I don't knit. I don't want to golf or knit or fly a kite. I want to build naquada reactors and study alien technology."
"OK, Carter. OK."
"I'm sorry, I've just been thinking about this a lot."
"So have I."
"You have?"
"Yeah. Look Carter, I feel terrible about what happened. From now on, any time you say there is an alien who has fallen in love with you and is walking through solid objects in your house, I'll listen." He was rewarded with one of her huge smiles, and felt his tension magically dissipate. They'd be all right.
"So Carter, what happened to your microwave and toaster, anyhow?"
The End
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