A/N: After more rewrites than I cared to count, I'm finally updating! It's a short chapter but I just felt the need to write something shippy and rather fluffy and this appeared in my mind. I hope you're going to like it. As always, thanks to byrhthelm for correcting my mistakes and thanks to those, who let me know what they think about the story. I truly appreciate it!

CHAPTER 7

Much to everyone's relief, Janet quickly determined that there would to be no negative repercussions for either of the two members of SG-1. It was just a matter of a few days before they were both released from the infirmary, Teal'c - thanks to his symbiote - much sooner than O'Neill and that definitely did nothing to improve the leader's mood. Quite the contrary. He was well known for his grumpiness during his stays in that place and it only seemed to get worse this time and the whole staff was truly relieved, when the CMO finally allowed him to leave.

There was no hesitation in his step, when he walked out onto the corridors of the Stargate Command and made his way to Carter's lab. She had visited him at least a couple of times every day during his stay in the infirmary, coming to see him just after arriving in SGC, during lunch break and before she left the mountain, sometimes showing up also when she heard that he was being particularly insufferable. She actually admitted to him that despite the assurance that he was alright, she was still feeling bad seeing him in the infirmary and it was the main reason why he decided to pay her a visit the moment he was out of there. That and the fact that he wanted to invite her to dinner so that he could finally spend some time with her away from the prying eyes, as well as show her how grateful he was for everything she had done to bring him and Teal'c back to Earth.

He was really surprised, when he found her office empty. He even managed to open his mouth to greet her before he stopped dead in his tracks, realising that she wasn't there. He stepped inside anyway and sat down in her chair, determined to wait for her. She was Carter after all, she wouldn't leave the mountain without a really good reason and she hadn't mentioned anything, either. His eyes fell on an alien device, which must have been brought to Earth by one of the other teams, as he had never see it before. He smiled a little, when he noticed the note attached to it, with a "DO NOT TOUCH" written on it in a familiar handwriting. He couldn't sit still for long though and after ten minutes he started to become restless, not to mention that curiosity was getting better off him. Sam obviously didn't expect his visit as she surely knew by now that a note like this would only work as an encouragement for him. It was just a matter of time before he carefully picked it up and he was truly surprised, when absolutely nothing happened.

It was only when he moved to place it back on her desk, completely confused, that he noticed a small, folded piece of paper, which had been lying underneath the device. He smirked, when he straightened to take a better look at it and saw the letter "J" on it. Yes, she obviously knew him well and he was terribly wrong. It seemed that she actually counted on him paying her a visit here and left it on purpose and he found the confirmation inside the note.

"I knew it! Come to my place when you're free, Sam. PS: Don't worry, the device is inactive."

He shook his head, smiling fatuously. He could almost see the smug expression on her face upon finding out that her little plan worked just like she wanted. She even thought about letting him know that there would be no side effects to his curiosity, knowing he would start to wonder what exactly was this thing doing, although he didn't think it was truly necessary after he understood her intentions. It wasn't like she would use something potentially dangerous if pretty much all she wanted was to raise his curiosity, but he appreciated it anyway.

Hiding the note in his pocket, he put the device back on her desk and walked out, heading towards the exit. On Janet's suggestion – although she was ready to make it doctor's orders if necessary – he had the rest of the day off and Hammond even told him to stay at home the next day, and he couldn't help wondering what it was that Sam was up to. It looked like she wasn't on base after all, what was surprising in itself, and he had a feeling that it was something good. He didn't even make a stop at his own place on the way, only drove straight to her and knocked to the door.

"Oh, hey!" she said, when she opened them. Her eyes lit up, when she saw him and she flashed him a radiant smile. "Come in," she added, stepping to the side and later closing the door behind him.

He turned around and was just about to ask what she had in mind inviting him there, when he felt her body pressed against him in a tight embrace. She wrapped her arms around him, hiding her face in the crook of his neck and closing her eyes, taking a deep breath and allowing his familiar scent to envelop her. She could feel that he was quite clearly taken aback; it was rather obvious with how tense his body suddenly became, but it didn't take him long to get over it. Before she knew it, he relaxed and hugged her back, although wasn't able to completely get rid of slight awkwardness, something she wasn't surprised by. He wasn't really good at dealing with upset people and it was always present in him, even when he was the one to offer a comforting hug, but even worse when he was taken by surprise, like now.

"I've been waiting to do this for the last few days," she explained, when she eventually withdrew and saw his questioning look.

It was a very difficult period of time for her, even after they had brought him and Teal'c back. She didn't move away from his bed during the first day of his stay in the infirmary until he eventually supported Janet in her attempts to force her to leave, but being with him was hardly enough consolation. It was extremely difficult for her to control herself, when all she wanted was to hold his hand, caress his face or let him know that she was there in any other way, but she couldn't. She had to remember where she was, that nobody should see her act so intimately with her and even though it was killing her and she really felt like she didn't care anymore, the awareness that he wouldn't be happy with it was enough to make her keep these feelings at bay.

"For a moment there I thought I had lost you and…" she stalled, affected even by the memory of what she had gone through when she wasn't sure if they would be able to actually help them. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Yeah, thanks for that," he smiled, taking her hand and squeezing it. "Not like there was even a moment when I doubted you would come, but it wasn't exactly the sort of a rescue expected."

They walked further into the house, to the kitchen, where they took their drinks and moved to the living room. They sat down on the couch and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him. He raised his eyebrows when she looked at him, feeling the question hanging in the air. His confusion grew while he wondered why she suddenly started to look so abashed. He started to wonder what could have caused it and tried to remember what happened after Sam, Daniel and Jacob had gotten to them, but it was all very fuzzy. It wasn't surprising, considering that he had been barely conscious at the time, and all he knew was what had been relayed to him.

"Carter..?"

"I've been very anxious and I might have had problems hiding this fact, especially with the time running out very quickly…" she said, slightly uncomfortable. "I know we agreed to keep it a secret and I really did try my best not to make it too obvious, but I haven't really been fully successful…"

"So, you're saying that some people know about this?" he gestured between the two of them. He was inclined to call it a relationship, it was exactly what it was for him but there was something preventing him from saying it out loud. He didn't even know what it was, neither did he understand it, but he still didn't dare to actually voice this thought. It was almost as if by doing so, he would make it seem more real, more serious and thus also easier to mess up, something he was terrified of doing. Besides, it wasn't like they had even talked about it and he wasn't sure if she saw it the same way he did.

"Well, just two…" she admitted, biting on her bottom lip and he wasn't able to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"For cryin' out loud, Carter, I'm not gonna bite your head off for that!" he exclaimed, frustrated with her fidgeting. "Okay, so I bet one of them is Daniel, so what? That's pretty much just a confirmation of what he had already suspected all along anyway. And I'm quite sure the same applies to Fraiser, so I don't really see any harm here."

"Right, I forgot about Janet. Make it three then. But, I was actually thinking about my father."

"What?" he asked, not sure if he heard correctly but the sheepish smile on her face confirmed that he did. "Oh crap! How come I'm still alive?"

"It's nothing like this! It's just, he wasn't exactly on the short list of people, that we agreed that they would probably figure it out sooner or later… I guess I might have made it quite obvious on our short trip back to Earth…" she said, thinking about the way he found them in a cargo bay. It was a rather dead giveaway. "But, all in all, he was actually surprisingly reasonable about it…"

"Reasonable, you say? He doesn't want me to suffer a slow, painful death, he just wants to torture me a little?"

She wasn't able not to laugh at that. She couldn't deny that it was what she had thought her father would be like if he found out what they were doing. It was one of the main reasons why he was on the list of people to actually prevent from finding out at one cost, right next to the fact that Jack expected he would be ready to go to Hammond and report him for taking advantage of his subordinate. Neither of them was looking forward to this, even if deep in their hearts they both felt that the chances that their CO would be way more sensible about it than his friends were quite high. But even despite this, his fair nature would force him to do the right thing and it would certainly mean a disaster.

"Nope. He pretty much told me that he's fine with it as long as I'm happy."

"Really?" he had to admit, it was a rather difficult thing to believe. "There's still hope for me, then, I just need to make sure you're happy."

"I am Jack," she stated, snuggling closer into him and closing her eyes. I love you, she added in her mind, not quite ready to admit it aloud. She wasn't sure either of them was ready for this kind of confession. They didn't really talk about it, but on those very rare occasions that one of them actually said something, anything about their feelings, love wasn't a word they would use.

"I have a day off tomorrow, you know? Any chance I could convince you to take one, too?"

"Quite a good one I'd say, considering that I've already done it. Daniel told me about it, he figured that after everything that happened, I'd like to spend some time with you. If anyone asks, I've got a few errands to run and decided to use the peaceful moment to take care of them."

"Very cunningly, Carter! I have to admit I didn't expect you making up excuses like this! Keep that up and I'll start to think that I really have a bad influence on you!"

"There's still a lot of things you don't know about me, Colonel" she grinned mischievously, playful sparkles shimmering in her eyes and she leaned towards him, capturing his lips in a kiss and effectively finishing the conversation.