Summary: Sequel to Just a Kiss. Sam had to kiss Jack in the line of duty, but now Jack can't stop thinking about her.
Category: Humor, Angst
Season: Seven, Set just after Evolution part 2 and just prior to Grace, slight spoilers to both in the end.
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Minor language
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.
Jack's bare feet hit the metal ramp, the cold of the wormhole chilling him in ways he'd never quite felt before considering his current state of undress. Amusement flickered in the eyes of the stony faces arrayed about in the gate room, but military discipline held sway as he and his disheveled team clattered out of the open wormhole. With a final chilly blast that made Jack clamp his teeth shut to prevent them chattering and made him grip the flimsy covering of the jacket all that more protectively, the wormhole closed with a snap and SG-1 walked down the ramp to greet their CO, General Hammond, who did nothing to conceal his surprise over their appearance and early return. Next to him, Major Carter hugged her arms about her damp uniform and was unable to stop her shivering. Wet uniforms and the freezing temperatures of molecular reintegration didn't mix well. Medics appeared with blankets, and Jack happily accepted one as well, waving away any need to get checked out. Squaring his shoulders, Jack now felt ready to face the inquiring eyes of his commander.
"Colonel? I trust it's been an eventful trip?" Hammond surveyed the bedraggled group. Trust trouble to find SG-1 no matter where they went.
Casting another look over his team, Jack saw that Carter was still shivering but looked better under the thick blanket. Daniel and Teal'c had eschewed the blankets, but looked no less filthy than they had on the planet. And Jack could only guess how he must look, barefoot, with only the jacket under the blanket he now wore for a cloak. "Let's just say General sir, it's not easy being green."
Carter choked. Daniel snorted. Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Jack looked innocent. Hammond just looked confused, and decided he'd get nothing out of the group until they'd all had hot showers and meals.
"Go get cleaned up and checked out. I'm looking forward to this debriefing. SG-1, I'll see you in two hours. Dismissed." With that, Hammond turned and left the snickering team on the ramp to make their way to fight over who got the showers first. In the end, they let Carter go shower first since she was still soaked and shivering, and Jack had just been transformed to an animal and back again so did need to get checked out. With Sam promising to hurry so the guys wouldn't have long to wait, they hurried off in their separate directions, and Jack caught himself watching her go. Tearing his eyes away, Jack had to pick up the pace to catch up with Teal'c and Daniel on the way to the infirmary and wondered about the distracted nature of his thoughts.
He wasn't given long to think on it though, as he was soon given plenty of other things to think of, since Dr. Fraiser thought of all sorts of non-standard tests to run on him as soon as she found out what had happened on the planet. "Ouch Doc, you gonna leave any blood in me?" He complained grumpily, as she filled yet another vial. The pile of test tubes seemed more impressive than usual.
"Relax Colonel, its just standard protocol whenever something like this happens. We just want to make sure your body chemistry is back to normal." Janet filled the last vial and withdrew the needle, briskly removing the tourniquet and applying a gauze pad, letting Jack bend up his arm and hold the pressure on it while she dealt with the tests.
Jack's brow furrowed. "You have standard procedures for this sort of thing?" Somehow, that was more disturbing than being turned into a frog. Or being kissed by his 2IC, supplied his mind unbidden. Forcibly, Jack dragged his brain back on track.
"Around here, we've had to come up with quite a few non-standard, standard protocols if you know what I mean. Everything from alien possession to transformation, alien influence, mind control, you name it, we've probably got a protocol for it now." Janet finished labeling the tubes and turned back to the man on the gurney. "Ok Colonel. Looks like we're done here. Be sure to come back if you start to experience anything unusual, yours is a bit of a new case, so we don't really know what to expect. Go get cleaned up. Oh, and send Sam in when you see her." Janet turned her back to him to fuss with her tray, in effect dismissing him, and Jack didn't need a second invitation.
"Thanks Doc." Jack grabbed the scrub top that Janet had thoughtfully provided him with on his arrival to the infirmary, and pulled it on, grateful to be wearing pants and slippers, even if they were infirmary scrubs, at least he had pants. Hopping off the gurney, Jack made a beeline for SG-1's locker room, wanting to scrub clean. In the hall, he literally bumped into Carter, her hair still damp, her cheeks glowing from the warmth of the shower and the scrubbing she'd just given them.
"Sir!" She blushed.
Jack found his brain a wash of confusing emotions at the sight of her, but he couldn't stop looking at her. He coughed hiding his sudden embarrassment at their nearness, and sidestepped neatly, gesturing towards the infirmary. There were so many things he suddenly wanted to tell her but nothing seemed appropriate. "Doc's ready for you Carter," he said instead.
She wet her lips. "Thank you sir."
There was another awkward moment. Jack shifted. "I'll just, uh, go get changed. See you at the debriefing."
She frowned slightly, looking at him strangely. "Yes sir, see you then." She turned away, casting another look at him over her shoulder. He still stood in the hall watching her disappear into the infirmary. Giving herself a little shake, Sam told herself she was just imagining things. She'd been feeling like the Colonel had been staring at her an awful lot since their return from P3X-468. At first, she'd just been so relieved at finding the Colonel, she'd just thought he'd been teasing a bit and hadn't been able to resist a bit of her own back. Besides, it wasn't everyday one ended up with their CO naked in their arms, and she'd have to be a nun to think her CO wasn't the least bit attractive! But now they were back, and he kept looking at her with his dark eyes, but maybe she was just overreacting. She was bone tired and exhausted.
Telling herself that's all that it was, Sam forced a smile onto her face, and went to face Janet.
RibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitTwo hours after their return, SG-1 sat in their customary places around the briefing table, with the addition of Janet Fraiser, who had wheedled her way in after getting an abbreviated version of events from the participants, and just decided that she had to be there, and came on the excuse that she wanted to deliver the medical findings on Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter personally.
General Hammond entered the room last, everyone standing out of respect. "As you were." As soon as everyone had settled again, Hammond called the briefing to order.
Daniel started off first, describing the temple and the inscriptions he'd managed to decipher. Sam went next, detailing the alien machinery, offering what she knew about its power source, and what she remembered of events. The General looked concerned upon hearing about her head injury and inquired about her health, and Dr. Fraiser confirmed that she'd suffered no ill effects from the injury. The General's relief was short lived however, when she described the event that had transpired next, glossing over the events with the "frog from hell" as she'd secretly dubbed the little hellspawn, and keeping to the facts of the activation and subsequent transformation of the Colonel to a frog, though they hadn't realized it at the time. At this the General had interrupted the Major, and turned to the Colonel, to find him distractedly looking at a space just past Major Carter's shoulder, apparently daydreaming.
"Colonel O'Neill?" When the Colonel did not reply, Hammond rapped his knuckles on the table sharply once, causing the man to jump, startled.
Jack blinked several times, realizing everyone in the room was looking at him. All during the briefing he kept getting distracted by thoughts of Carter, and kept finding his attention wandering to her, despite every attempt to focus on something else. And now he'd been caught in the act. He felt a flush creeping up the back of his neck. "Ah, sir?" he addressed the General.
"Major Carter was just explaining your encounter with the alien artifact, Colonel. Perhaps you'd care to elaborate?"
Jack blinked again. "Oh! Bud!" Blank stares. "The frog?" More blank stares. "Never mind, not important." Trust Carter to not have mentioned the frog, they hadn't really gotten along. "Uh. The thing zapped me. Next thing I knew, I was a frog. Carter kissed me, we came home."
Two small gasps came from the female occupants of the room and Jack realized what he'd just said out loud. Obviously they hadn't gotten to that part of the explanation.
Oh. Shit.
Risking a glance across the table showed that Carter had her head bowed, but nothing could hide the red staining her pale skin. Daniel was looking anywhere but at him. Teal'c look surprised. For Teal'c. General Hammond's mouth was opening and closing in a remarkable impersonation of a fish. It was quite funny really, except the only thing Jack O'Neill wanted to do was leap across the table right that moment and reenact that kiss. Or maybe have the floor open up and swallow him. Yeah. That would be better. He gripped the table. Hard.
The silence in the room lengthened.
Finally, General Hammond seemed to regain control of his speech centers. "Colonel O'Neill, I assume you have an explanation for your last statement. One, I might add, that falls within the realm of acceptable Air Force regulations?" The General's voice was eerily calm and level.
Jack swallowed, and fidgeted nervously. Actually, he wasn't sure why exactly Carter had kissed him, nor why she and the others had been slogging through the pond kissing random frogs. Not that he was arguing, mind you considering the results. And that kiss…. Dammit O'Neill. But that lack of knowledge wasn't helping him right now, and the General's voice had held a deadly intonation to it, one that had suggested an assignment scrubbing latrines for the next six months should Hammond not like his answer. Jack squirmed some more and desperately tried to think of a satisfactory response, and Hammond continued to stare at him while Jack could feel sweat beading up on his forehead.
With a cough, Daniel interrupted, raising his hand slightly. "Actually, General sir, I can explain that." Was it Jack's imagination, or did Daniel's voice jump up an octave when Hammond directed his icy glare onto the startled archeologist? "The inscriptions at the shrine around the device that transformed Jack said the way to reverse the transformation was with a kiss from someone close."
Hammond frowned. "And so Major Carter was the only one who could change the Colonel back?" Hammond wasn't sure he liked where this was heading any more than the first implication.
"Ah, actually, we were all in the pond trying to find Jack," Daniel quickly tried to reassure the General, before the General could make the same assumptions he and Teal'c had made, and Sam was already embarrassed enough.
At this new revelation, the hint of a smile started to tug at the General's lips. "Dr. Jackson, do you mean to tell me that my premier team was wallowing through a pond on an alien world, kissing frogs?"
Daniel looked at his teammates for support, unsure how to proceed with the General's sudden change in attitude. Always loyal, Teal'c stepped in.
"Indeed General Hammond. Our attentions even seemed welcomed by many of the denizens of the pond."
At that, General Hammond blinked, momentarily speechless again, and Sam couldn't help but add a bit of her own observation in an attempt to get some of the attention off herself, her cheeks still slightly pink from Jack's earlier announcement. "Teal'c is quite a charmer, sir."
Hammond cleared his throat, the tension n the room suddenly lifting, and called the meeting back to order before it got out of hand. "Dr. Fraiser, have you anything to report on Colonel O'Neill's condition?"
Slightly distracted by the rapid mood shifts and recent revelations, it took a moment for Janet to focus. "No sir, other than some slightly higher than normal hormone levels, there's nothing to be concerned about, he's in perfect health. Better than usual in fact, I don't even see a need to keep him for observation."
"Very well then. SG-1, Dr. Fraiser, thank you. I'll expect your reports sometime tomorrow, dismissed." While the military members of the room snapped to attention at Hammond's dismissal, Jack's thoughts again wandered to less appropriate avenues, and he decided that he'd best go work out some of his wayward emotions on some of the gym equipment, as he yet again had to drag his eyes away from his attractive 2IC. Unfortunately for him, his second had similar plans.