Page 6 * * * * * *
Jack found Daniel sitting on the bed next to Sam in the infirmary.
Sam smiled a welcome to Jack then turned back to Daniel.
"Thanks. I'm already going stir crazy in here. I don't think I'll last a week."
Jack grinned.
"Well, then you'll be glad to know that while you have to sleep here on base, you don't have to stay in the infirmary after tomorrow if you promise to follow all the restrictions Doc's gonna
lay on you."
Sam's blue eyes glimmered with gratitude.
"Thank you, sir. I take it both of you met the new doctor?"
She motioned to the arm Daniel had been unconsciously touching.
Daniel grimaced and deliberately moved his
hand away from the slight itch the cotton always caused him.
Jack glanced at his own matching band-aided cotton and smirked at Daniel's obvious irritation.
Not that he was thrilled, either, it was just nice to know he wasn't the only one.
"No, we didn't meet her. She was already in the lab. Doc had that pretty
brunette nurse, the new one, take our blood. If she didn't look like an angel, I'd swear she enjoyed it."
Sam and Daniel smiled at the Colonel's comment.
Then both men saw
how tired Sam was and after a few more words quietly left her to sleep.
Teal'c would be back to watch over her in another 5 minutes so neither one had any qualms about leaving.
Janet caught them as they were walking out.
"Remember, I want both of you in here first thing in the morning."
"No prob, Doc...just as soon as I can."
Janet gave Jack a warning look to let him know she meant business and then left after Daniel assured her they'd come in together.
Jack just looked at him for a minute.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just tired. Haven't
slept since we got back. Wanted to make sure Sam was okay first."
Jack held the other man's shoulder for a minute.
"How about you come to my place tonight? My neighbor went nuts at some bake-off yesterday and offered to give me whatever leftovers I wanted. Teal'c already said he'd come over since Doc wants Sam to
have a night of complete, uninterupted sleep and, well, you know that every nurse in the ward finds a reason to check on us when Teal'c's in there. You all can stay the night and then we can come in tomorrow morning all nice and
happy for Doc"
Daniel laughed a tired, but genuine laugh at Jack's dry sarcasm.
"Okay. Sounds good. I need to eat, too, I guess, so I'll meet you at your place."
"Cool. I'll bring Teal'c and maybe pick up some movies. Poker's no
fun without Carter."
Daniel just nodded his head, not really listening.
Jack just shook his head and walked back into the infirmary for a moment.
Daniel looked up when he came back, a bit curious.
"Janet's going to bring Teal'c when she gets off duty. You're going with me now. No arguments. You're dead
on your feet and in another hour I will be, too."
Daniel smiled a bit, too tired to think of any protests.
"Janet's coming over?"
"Yeah...I told her we'd play fair, but she didn't believe me so she offered to bring the movies, but still won't play poker
with us."
Daniel laughed.
Janet hadn't been willing to play poker with SG-1 since Jack had asked Graham over a month or so ago to get back at Sam for something and he'd
rigged the game so Graham had lost everything to Sam and Janet.
Janet had been so furious when she realized it had been rigged that she'd had a verbal mud-slinging match with Jack.
It had been impressive.
Janet's soft whiskey voice had acquired an edge, but was never raised in a shout.
Jack's voice had bellowed all over the place.
Graham had gone home before the rigging had been revealed so he'd been spared the humiliation
and everyone had been nice to him to make up for it.
Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c had just relaxed on Jack's couch, fascinated with the long friendship the argument they were witnessing had revealed.
They'd known Jack and Janet
had served together before and had been friends before Janet's divorce, but it was still something to see.
Now Daniel just smiled at the memory and walked with Jack.
He could use a stress-free night.
* * * * * * Almost a week later, SG-1 was still on stand down, but had opted to stay at the base rather than take time off.
Sam sat on the desk next to Daniel as he finished up the last of
the translations on the artifacts and objects they'd brought back from P4X-75H2.
She'd finally gotten Janet's permission to work as long as she sat down for most of it and didn't move around often.
She grimaced lightly as her
ribs let her know she hadn't been following doctor's orders.
Daniel caught the look and instant concern flooded his blue eyes as he automatically glanced at the tell-tale bulge in her shirt where the bandages were.
Daniel pulled a chair from a different station and
made Sam sit down in it, unable to miss the way her back relaxed against the cushioning.
Giving her one last admonishing glare, he pulled up his report on the translations for the general.
An almost evil grin curved his mouth as he shared his thoughts with Sam.
"I wonder what would happen if an SGC periodic table was leaked to a University or was
accidentally placed on the Net."
A small sound alerted him to a presence just behind him.
Dr. Amber Corvores stood still, frozen in shock.
Carter elbowed Daniel and quickly clarified his comment.
"Daniel's not saying we would...it's just a hypothetical situation."
She gave Daniel a prompting look.
"Oh...yeah...what I meant was...what could we do to save the situation if that were to happen. I
was asking for some disaster prevention brainstorming."
He had completely forgotten Dr. Corvores was in the room or he would never have even ventured the question.
She was the most humorless, most dismal person he'd ever met.
If she wasn't an absolutely brilliant scientist and medical doctor, he'd avoid her at all costs.
One day working with her had prompted him to ask Janet if her blood was green.
Janet had given him a dirty look and admonished him about asking her to break "doctor to doctor confidentiality".
She'd then grinned, but her point had been made.
Dr. Corvores looked at him as if he was a rude child and then addressed her remarks to Carter...as usual.
"I see...I'll have to think about that, but right now we really need to concentrate on our separate tasks."
Sam turned so she wouldn't laugh at the wry grin Daniel
flashed her before typing on the keyboard in front of him.
She leaned over him and typed some corrections in his report.
Daniel's eyes widened and he glanced at Dr. Corvores to make sure the woman wasn't watching.
Then,
keeping as straight a face as possible, he deleted everything Sam had just typed.
Sam grinned and whispered in his ear.
"Coward."
Daniel stuck his tongue out at her.
"Dr. Jackson! That really is not appropriate behavior."
Sam chuckled and earned her own personal glare from both Daniel and Dr. Corvores.
Daniel muttered under his breath so low Sam only caught some of it.
"...feel like I'm in 3rd grade with the Mrs. Evil Witch for a teacher again..."
Sam laughed out loud at that last and not even the horrified
look Dr. Corvores sent her dimmed her enjoyment.
Daniel smiled at the sound and as soon as Dr. Corvores had stalked out of the room, brought up the Net on another computer.
Exuding mischief and deviousness, Daniel quickly
sent a sappy, romantic E-Card supposedly from A.Covores@SGC.gov to HMayb@A51.gov before Sam could see what he'd done.
15 minutes later, Sam still hadn't wormed it out of him and she'd just about decided to change tactics again
when a gadget, dubiously nick-named "P.O.S.-Post Office Special" because it was shaped like a transparent, beaten-up, knocked around postal package and it's inside components (all of which had defied proper
identification) looked like packing peanuts, began shaking violently.
4 technicians called out stats in response to Carter's questions while Daniel called Gen. Hammond to let him know what was going on.
A minute later, Jack
was in the doorway, watching the excited scientists, completely oblivious to his presence.
"Sam, this is really strange....should it be doing this?"
"I have no clue...this is the one thing we brought back that we haven't been able to decipher. No one can figure out what it does."
Sam's posture and expression showed how entranced and frustrated she was with the POS.
"Does anyone else see what I'm seeing?"
Daniel's eagerness showed in the question and was answered by a grinning Jack.
"You mean the whole disco light setup that just started?"
Sam was in a world of her own.
"...there's no way it can be producing colored lights...doesn't make sense..."
Red, green, and blue lights were dancing over various walls.
Dr. Corvores edged closer to the POS, putting herself between Daniel and Sam.
"...the lights are moving because of the POS's shaking rather than because of any
deliberate rotational mechanism..."
"Captain Carter. There's no radiation, no heat, nothing. According to the computers, it's shaking, but that's
all."
Sam, hearing Graham's confusion, leaned forward, trying to figure out what else was striking her as odd when Daniel voiced it.
"Words! There's words scrolling across the peanuts. We're recording this, right?"
"Yes, Dr. Jackson. I have been recording
since I first entered the lab this morning."
It took a second for Dr. Corvores' comment to fully sink in, but when it did, Jack saw Daniel and Sam look as if they'd been hit
by lightning.
He couldn't wait to find out the inside story on that sentence.
Without warning, the lights stopped and so did the POS's shaking.
No one breathed, hoping something else would happen to explain the POS's
function, but after almost 2 minutes of nothing, disappointed sighs echoed through the room.
In an instant, Daniel and Sam were racing to the recording of all that had happened and removed the tape.
Dr. Corvores opened her mouth to object when Daniel cut her off.
"The General really needs to see this so the sooner he looks at it, the sooner we can work on
it without interruption."
No one could think of an objection before they pushed past Jack and ducked out of sight.
Jack followed.
Taking it to the General?
Yeah right.
No way he was getting left out of this one.
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