A/N: As usual, thanks to Darskywise, my beta and editor, and Stickhorsie's dad (lol) for his extra special help with Moo X-Treme. Grammar checks, spelling checks, editing, and sometimes a little bit of rewriting! And thanks to the readers, for taking a chance on this unusual and unique crossover! I'm glad you are having fun!

Chapter 5: Dreams of Moo

Sam felt incredibly comfortable and warm. In fact she had never slept so well in a long time, and most especially not while using her on-base quarters and the universally lumpy military issue mattress that came standard in all on base quarters. Sam stretched lazily, enjoying the rare feeling of waking and feeling completely rested. She rolled over and then several things happened at the same time.

There was a knock at her door. She turned, only to discover she was not alone in her bed like she'd been when she'd gone to sleep the night before. Needless to say, she was completely startled. With her brain still fogged with sleep, her military honed reflexes kicked in and she gave a startled shriek, scrabbling backwards, the bed linens hopelessly tangling in her legs and resulting in her falling out of the other side of the bed in an ungraceful heap.

The other occupant of the bed, which she could have sworn had the letters "Moozzz" superimposed above its head, sprang awake with a look of shock on its face. Before she had taken in its presence, it was out of the bed, across the room and out of sight so fast it looked like a blue blur and she almost thought she'd imagined it being there with her for a moment.

But she hadn't imagined it, and her door slammed open as Colonel O'Neill used his access card to unlock her door at her scream, bursting into the room ready to tackle anything, the hulking form of Teal'c a split second behind him.

"Carter?" Jack's hawk eyes darted around the room before he spotted her behind the bed and on the floor, tangled in a mass of blankets, trying without much success to extricate herself. Leaving Teal'c at the entrance, Jack crossed the room to offer her a hand, but Sam just waved him off.

"Sir, Stick Horsie is in here, I think I scared it when I woke up and found it in bed next to me. I didn't know it was here. It must have come in while I was asleep." Her voice held a note of urgency as she struggled to pull her upper body up above the bed, searching the room for any sign of the missing blue horse.

Jack's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose. The stick horse had been under surveillance all night long, and he'd been told it hadn't even moved from its bed the entire night. He and Teal'c were collecting Carter and Daniel before checking in on it this morning. Apparently, Horsie had gone wandering and had gotten lonely. He had just opened his mouth to rib Carter about her new cuddly Horsie toy, when he heard the sound of Teal'c's voice.

"O'Neill." Teal'c was pointing to the far corner, where Stick Horsie was unsuccessfully trying to hide behind the standing lamp in Sam's quarters. It was quivering, making the lamp rattle.

"Oh for cryin' out loud," Jack muttered, running his hand through his hair.

Sam finally extracted herself from the pile of blankets on the floor, and moved to stand beside the Colonel. Daniel appeared in the doorway looking cheerful, and noticing him, Sam made frantic motions for him to stay quiet, pointing to the corner. Daniel's eyes widened when he saw what was in the corner, but he just nodded and stayed put, deciding to let them handle it.

Jack looked at Sam. "Well, any ideas?" he asked quietly. It had been in her bed after all.

Sam just watched the badly frightened creature and shook her head, eyes wide. "No sir." She wet her lips nervously.

Teal'c studied the scene. Stepping forward with confidence, and a gentleness they seldom saw, Teal'c approached the corner. "Stick Horsie. You will not come to harm here. Major Carter was merely frightened; she did not expect you in her quarters this morning. You must come out now, it is time to break our morning fast." Teal'c stopped about a foot away from the thin blue being, and held his hand outstretched, offering the promise of protection and friendship. A moment later a blue nose appeared, gently whuffling the hand. The rest of the stick horse soon followed, a slightly hesitant smile on its face, and a quizzical "moo?" in the bubble.

Sam smiled to see Horsie appear, and at the appearance of Sam's smile, Horsie's smile grew more confident too. Sam walked over to Horsie as well, and tentatively reached out a hand. Sensing what she wanted, Horsie met her halfway, butting its head up under her hand, putting its ears right where the perfect spot for a scratch was in open invitation. With a laugh, Sam obliged, and the tension drained from the room as if it had never been there.

Jack grinned boyishly, and bounced up on the balls of his feet, clapping his hands together, making everyone look at him. "Ok, lets eat, I'm starved."

Suddenly remembering she'd just woken up, Sam glanced down at her rumpled gray "Property of the US Air Force" T-shirt, soft shorts she'd worn to sleep in, and ran a hand through her disheveled hair. "Uh, guys, why don't I meet you there." She blushed, staring down at her bare feet.

"Tell ya what Carter, we'll grab a table, and wait for you, how does that sound?" The Colonel waggled his eyebrows suggestively, and Horsie watched the interplay with interest.

Sam smiled and nodded. "Ok, I just need a few minutes, I'll be right there." Horsie seemed reluctant to leave Sam behind, but the other three were insistent that she be given something called "privacy" and assured Horsie that she would rejoin them shortly, so Horsie followed the three men to this place called the commissary, curious as to what sort of place it might be.

A few minutes later, they arrived in a moderately sized room, the same dull gray as the rest of the place, but this room was filled with many small tables, which were covered in attractive blue tablecloths. One end of the room was taken up with an array of shelves upon which were displayed a variety of food items. There were a few people in the room, they all looked up as the group entered, some doing double takes, but everyone smiled when they saw the new guest. Horsie couldn't help but smile in return. Horsie followed its friends over to a large table in the corner.

They weren't waiting very long before Sam appeared. The others stood up to greet her, and moved towards the rack of shelves with food. Horsie followed behind the group curiously, eager to participate, watching as the others picked up trays and started to place different items on them. Daniel turned to Horsie. "So, what would you like Horsie?" Horsie looked at the spread that was laid out, its eyes widening just a bit. There were so many different things to choose from, each more tempting than the last. Horsie didn't know how its friends could decide!

Fortunately, Sam seemed to sense its indecision. "If you like, Horsie, we can just get extra of what we usually like, and you can try some of what we're having. Would you like that?" At Horsie's emphatic nod, they all added extra small servings to their trays of their favorite breakfast dishes and headed back to their chosen table in the corner.

After all had sat down, Horsie leisurely walked around the table, sticking its head in between its new friends, cheerfully sampling bits, pieces and sips from everybody's cups and plates. The frosted cereal that the Colonel usually preferred was a big success, as were the fruit, toast and pancakes. But after loudly sneezing Carter's diet soda (which had lots of fascinating bubbles in it) all over her breakfast and some thoughtful munching on the table's flower arrangement, Jack suddenly had an idea and slipped off to the kitchen for something while the other three decided to distract Horsie with some of the other beverages.

It was quickly decided that caffeine and Stick Horsies were not a good combination, however. The smallest sip of coffee caused Horsie to literally bounce several times, knocking into the table until Teal'c finally managed to hold it steady, while at the same time stuffing his fruit juice underneath Horsie's mouth, who managed to keep still just long enough to take a few sips. Immediately, Horsie subsided, looking quite relieved the ordeal was over.

Then Jack returned from the kitchen with a big grin, carrying several cups of something shiny in various colors. "I got them to give me a few early, as soon as they heard who it was for." Jack set the tray down, and Horsie, after giving all the cups a thorough look over, nosed the one that had the blue stuff in it. Jack grinned, and pushed the cup, making the stuff inside jiggle in a curious manner. "That one is Carter's favorite, but I don't think she'll mind sharing her Jell-O today." Horsie looked to Sam who was smiling, and Horsie smiled back.

The Jell-O was interesting, but even more interesting was the effect it had on Horsie. At first, nothing happened. And then, suddenly, Horsie felt an odd movement start somewhere in its middle. It was gone as fast as it had begun. But then it came again, and this time, it spread, all the way out to its tail, down its legs, and up its neck to its head. And then, it was gone again. Horsie gave itself a little shake. The only trouble was, Horsie's body suddenly shook back, and the jiggling was not unlike the cup full of Jell-O that Horsie had just helped Sam eat. Horsie realized that all four humans were staring at it in surprise, and decided they needed an explanation.

"Moo!" It said, the letters going all jiggly, just like the rest of its body was doing at the moment.

Sam blinked, and pulled the mostly finished glass of Jell-O away, and exchanged a glance with the others. "Uh, I think no more Jell-O for you either Horsie." She said while finishing the rest of the Jell-O herself. After all, she hadn't been able to have the rest of her breakfast after Horsie had sneezed on it! Horsie tried to look disappointed, but was jiggling too much to really pull off the effect.

Fortunately, Jack noticed. "Don't worry Horsie, for lunch, I'll make sure to introduce you to cake." He smiled, ignoring Daniel's rolled eyes, Sam's snort, and Teal'c's raised eyebrow.

Daniel pushed back from the table. "Well, I hate to eat and run, but SG-11 just brought back some tablets night that need translating right away. So I really need to go get started on them."

"I too have duties I must attend this morning." Teal'c rose, inclining his head to the others before following after Daniel.

Sam looked over at Horsie. "Uh, Stick Horsie, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming to my lab with me today? I have some equipment in there that I'd like to use to take a few measurements with. It would really help us to learn how you were able to fit past our iris like you did."

Horsie bobbed its head up and down enthusiastically, making it jiggle even more. When everyone had started to leave, Horsie had started to get worried that it would be left alone. "Moo!" the bubble said. Sam was so silly, thinking Horsie would say anything except yes to going anywhere with Sam.

Sam laughed at Horsie's eagerness. "Ok then!"

"I'll come by later and drag you two off for lunch, ok Carter? Knowing you, you'll probably be buried in your lab all day with the poor thing if I don't go and rescue it." Jack's tone held a gentle admonishment, but his face was smiling. He knew how focused Carter got on her work, which is why he planned to stop by several times today, to make sure their new guest didn't spend the entire day cooped up in the lab, and Carter remembered to eat and sleep.

She smiled, taking the gentle rebuke as it was intended. "Yes sir, see you at lunch." Sam led the way out of the commissary, and Horsie followed, still jiggling every other step.