AN: Just a short, silly, one-part piece of fluff to enjoy. Let me know if you like it!
Unexpected
jessa4865
Spoilers: Fluff. Just fluff. Fluffity fluffy fluff. Really. Spongier than marshmallows.
Disclaimer: I'm soooo not responsible if you go into sugar shock.
Spoilers: Through season 9, but I really hate season 9, so really just the first ep cause I haven't been paying close enough attention to write anything about anything beyond that.
Pairing: Sam/Jack. I know, shocker.
Samantha Carter stepped off the elevator on Monday morning with a contented grin on her face. Now this was news for several reasons. First of all, ever since the departure of a certain general who'd inadvertently or perhaps advertently, made his feelings towards her rather clear, Samantha Carter had been on the receiving end of the amorous attentions of all the men who'd been fearful that the aforementioned General would inflict serious damage on them if they dared try anything while he was around. Constant stares, smiles, flirtatious remarks, and even one proposal from her coworkers had upset Sam far more than she let on to her friends. Although Daniel and Teal'c had noticed her sudden reluctance to ever be without one, or preferably both, of them while on the base, they attributed it to the loss of that certain general and the fear that nothing would ever feel quite right again. Needless to say, she rarely smiled at work anymore, and certainly never arrived there grinning.
The second thing that struck the schooled observer was the fact that Sam was two and a half hours late. Colonel Carter was prompt, punctual, and courteous. She was never late for anything, didn't suffer the lateness of others well, and never expected that anything would be held up for her if she was late due to reasons beyond her control. When she was late for something, which was invariably someone else's fault, she would arrive quietly, beg forgiveness, and try to make up for any hardships caused by her inability to arrive on time. So no one knew quite what to make of Sam's unabashed stroll in the conference room two hours into a meeting she'd been expected to lead, nor did they know what to think when she dropped a box of doughnuts on the table, atop piles of documents that she should have regarded as important, nor did they exactly expect her to casually sit down, smile at Daniel who'd taken over the meeting in her absence, and ask if she'd missed anything important.
The third, and possibly the most important piece of data had anyone been able to read it, was that Sam did not doodle. Never once in all the years Daniel and Teal'c had known her had they ever seen Sam blatantly ignoring the meeting going on around her in favor of scribbling randomly in a notebook with a ridiculously amused smile on her face.
Of course, since all of this behavior was extremely odd, Sam was given the benefit of the doubt. General Landry pretended nothing was amiss. Daniel and Teal'c immediately decided that she was under the influence of some sort of alien technology and demanded that she be looked over by the medical staff. Cameron took one look at her grin and loudly announced to everyone within earshot that she'd obviously gotten some and that she'd eventually return to normal.
Uncharacteristically, Sam said nothing, not even at the mention of something so indelicate regarding her personal life, and continued to scribble happily while the others discussed her mood. Despite repeated attempts to send her to the infirmary, Sam sat glued to her chair, completely ignorant of anything spoken to or about her. Dr. Lam was eventually summoned to exam her on the spot, but the young doctor was unable to find anything particularly wrong with Sam.
"She looks tired, but beyond that, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her." That was the doctor's pronouncement.
Daniel took the seat next to Sam and stilled her hand by placing his own over top. He'd decided, regardless of Dr. Lam's assessment, that Sam was in some sort of shock. He didn't trust Dr. Lam for many reasons, not the least of which was the simple, inexorable fact that she was not Janet Fraiser. "Sam, did you know Jack was supposed to be in town last weekend?" That certain general had made plans to meet with his old friends at Daniel's apartment for pizza and beer and cheesy movies no one would watch because they'd be busy talking. But the general had never showed up, had not called, and had not responded to the multiple inquiries Daniel had made over the previous two days. Being the worrywart that he was, Daniel feared something horrible had happened to his friend that had somehow only been revealed to Sam.
But Sam looked up, smug grin firmly entrenched, and responded to Daniel as though she hadn't been ignoring everything anyone had said to her that day. "Yes, I know."
"Sam, is everything ok?" Daniel was growing more concerned by the second, fearing that Sam had a complete breakdown. She'd been under remarkable amounts of stress for years and he imagined it was only a matter of time before she gave out.
"Yeah. Fine." She pulled her hand out from under Daniel's and resumed her scribbling.
Daniel decided to try a different tactic and come at the problem from a different angle. "So what did you do over the weekend?"
Her scribbling ceased as her eyes stared dreamily into space. "We ran off to Vegas and got married."
This statement was taken as proof that she'd gone stark-raving mad and Sam was consequently dragged off to the infirmary and sedated. No one knew quite what to do with the page of scribbling that pretty much amounted to various forms of Samantha Carter-O'Neill, Samantha O'Neill, Mrs. Jack O'Neill, etc.
Daniel's phone rang as he sat at the bedside of his drugged friend, who, much to his chagrin, was still sort of grinning in her sleep. He answered the phone unhappily. "Yeah?"
"What's wrong with you?"
"Jack?" Daniel's voice came out more like a yelp than he'd intended, but he couldn't help it. Jack was the one person Daniel really, really, really didn't want to explain Sam's current state to.
"What's up, Danny? You left sixty messages for me."
"I was worried." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know how to tell you this, Jack, but there's something wrong with Sam."
Alarm was obvious in the general's previously jovial voice. "What? What happened? What's wrong?"
Daniel squeezed his eyes closed and spoke quickly, as though it would limit the impact of his words if only half of them were heard. "They think she had a breakdown. She's completely insane."
The general was silent for a minute and Daniel feared that his words would push Jack over the edge too. "What do you mean, Daniel? She was fine this morning."
"She came in this morning late and smiling and - wait, what do you mean this morning?"
"I mean this morning, when I dropped her off, she was fine."
"You were here?"
"Daniel, what's wrong with Sam? Can I talk to her?"
Daniel was silent, trying to coax his brain to function without its needed caffeine boost. Jack dropped her off. Jack had been there. Sam was happy. Sam had, according to Cameron, gotten some. Things were beginning to click into place.
"Jack, what did you guys do this weekend?"
"Hey, you know, I'm sorry I missed the movie and all, but um, well, I'll make it up to you. How about next weekend?"
"No, seriously, Jack, what did you guys do?"
"What do you think we did, Daniel?"
Daniel opened his eyes and guilty stared at his unconscious friend. "Tell me you didn't drive to Vegas and get married."
"Would it help if I mentioned the ceremony was conducted by an Elvis impersonator?"
"No, Jack, it won't help. But at least it appears that Sam is actually fine."
"I told you she was fine this morning."
"Well, you could have warned us. It's not like any of us have ever seen her happy before."
Daniel could hear the grin in Jack's voice. "Now you have."