Have You Read Your Memos?

Grabbing the pile of memos from her in-box, one addressed to "All Department Heads, SGC" caught her attention. While she wasn't officially the head of a department, she felt pleased to think others might see her that way. On the other hand, after reading the memo, she wondered if maybe someone who wished to remain anonymous was giving her a heads up on some amendments that had been made to the Air Force "Fraternization Rules".

oOo

It took a couple of days before she got up enough nerve to visit General Hammond with what she suspected. They had a very interesting conversation, and Sam left the General feeling rather giddy. The General had confirmed her suspicion, but told her to just proceed with caution and not be too obvious. She was glad he felt so comfortable with the situation; she would have felt uncomfortable otherwise.

That evening she did a happy dance in the privacy of her home. While indulging in one of her favorite pasttimes - taking a long, hot bubble bath while sipping a glass of wine - she allowed herself to think about the possibilities this new development created.

oOo

Over the next few days, she did nothing overtly conspicuous. Daniel and Janet, however, became aware of a difference in her behavior and started watching their friend more closely. She seemed to have loosened up considerably. She teased her team, and especially Jack, more often and a bit more personally than she had ever been known to do.

Jack was both puzzled by and delighted with the change in his second-in-command. One afternoon she boldly stole a bite of his cake in the commissary as they were discussing a mission report. She nudged him playfully at other times; a little touch here and there - something she rarely did unless he was injured. She even flirted with him - something that had stopped sometime ago, and which he had missed, even though there were good reasons for it to stop.

This unusual behavior only happened in the presence of her team members and/or Janet; rarely in front of anyone else at the SGC. And then she would simply go on her way, humming, as though nothing unusual was happening.

However, Jack was beginning to wonder if the invincible Samantha Carter - who could compete with the Energizer Bunny for who would last the longest when it came to endurance - might be starting to succumb to the enormous amount of pressure from all the responsibilities heaped on her by the SGC and the Pentagon.

He decided to simply observe for awhile longer before taking the issue to General Hammond. She hadn't actually done anything wrong, and after all, he didn't want create any unnecessary problems for Sam in case perhaps this was a temporary way for her to let off a bit of steam.

oOo

The weekend arrived, along with team night at Jack's home. This time, Janet was invited, and she was as puzzled as the guys over Sam's behavior. While Sam wasn't exactly "hanging all over" Jack, she certainly wasn't keeping her distance from him either. Janet finally couldn't take it anymore, and yanked Sam out onto the deck. Closing the door behind them, she demanded to know what was going on.

Her friend simply smiled and said somewhat mysteriously that she wasn't doing anything she wasn't allowed to do. Of course, Janet's suspicions grew even higher. She pointed out to Sam that her behavior was going to get her - and Jack - in trouble if she wasn't careful. Enjoying her little secret awhile longer, she told Janet not to be such a party pooper, and that perhaps she would be wise to catch up on reading the memos that came across her desk. With that, she sauntered back into the house, snagging a beer from Jack's hand as he passed her to go back into the living room, making him have to get another one.

It was late when the movie choice of the week ended and the group had managed to pick apart all the technical details that had been so carefully crafted into the story, but which they all found annoying, given the nature of the work they did.

Sam was the first to leave. Walking her to the door, Jack was struck speechless when she leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips and walked out … leaving him wishing the kiss had been longer ... a lot longer.

oOo

Returning from a mission a few days later, Sam was awaiting her turn to get into the locker room to shower and clean up. Jack was still inside and Sam was getting impatient. She finally knocked on the door, and getting no answer simply walked in. She heard a shower running and made a quick decision. Opening her locker, she pulled out the things she needed for her shower. Setting these on the bench, she proceeded to remove her dirty clothing and toss them into the nearby hamper. She had just wrapped a towel around her when Jack walked into the locker room, a matching towel around his waist. He was more than surprised to see Sam standing there … nothing more than a towel around her ... nothing to hide bare arms, bare legs, bare … erm, almost bare everything. A stray thought flicked through his mind as he wondered where that infamous mole of hers was that he had heard about.

Looking up to see Jack wrapped only in a towel, momentarily short-circuited Sam's thoughts as she stared at his bare chest - this time without any alien virus clouding her judgment. Coughing slightly as she slowly recovered her wits, and still enjoying her "inside information", Sam walked toward the showers and in so doing, reached out and swatted Jack's butt, letting her own towel fall away at the same time. Continuing on her way without a backward glance, Jack got an eyeful of the naked backside of Samantha Carter ... the sight of which was enough to short-circuit his own brain momentarily.

"Okay, that does it!" he muttered, recovering slightly. Following her into the shower room, just as she stepped into one of the showers and closed the curtain, hiding her from his sight, he said: "Carter, just what the hell are you playing at?"

Peeking out from behind the curtain, her blue eyes wide, round and innocent, she smiled sweetly and said, "Playing at, sir? I'm just taking a shower. You were taking too long and I couldn't wait any longer."

Leaning against the side of the shower stall, Jack tried again, "You haven't been behaving like yourself all week, and I demand to know what's going on!"

Sam peeked from behind the curtain again and found herself almost nose to nose with him. Reaching over to tweak his nose, she grinned and said "You should really read all those memos that cross your desk, you know; you might find something interesting in them. Now, if you don't mind, I really, really want to enjoy a nice hot shower!"

Jack really, really wanted to pursue the discussion, but Sam simply turned the water on harder and began humming to herself, ignoring Jack in the process. Wondering what she meant about memos, he decided to find out. And when he did, … well, they were definitely going to have that talk!

As he finished dressing, the door to the locker room burst open and Janet stormed in, coming to an abrupt halt when she saw him.

"Colonel O'Neill! Have you seen Sam?"

Nodding toward the shower room, Jack finished lacing up his boots and left the room.

Janet dashed into the shower room, yelling at Sam to turn off the water and come out immediately. Sam didn't come out. She merely poked her head out of the shower and asked what her friend wanted.

"You ……… you, sneak ………" was all Janet could manage to say.

Sam just grinned and said "I take it you've read your memos?"

Obviously Janet had found the cause of Sam's abnormal behavior, but couldn't be annoyed with her friend for not sharing the information with her immediately, given the fun Sam had been having. The two women giggled like school girls as Sam stepped out of the shower, dried herself off and got dressed.

oOo

In her lab an hour later, Sam "felt" someone enter the room. Looking up with a smile, she said "Something I can do for you, sir?" Jack leaned against the door frame, a smirk on his own face. "Or do I have to guess?" When he continued to stand there, just watching her, she finally said, "Oh well, I guess I was wrong. I wonder if anyone else might be interested …"

Crossing the space between them in about 2 seconds flat, Jack silenced her by grabbing her in his arms and planting a kiss on her that nearly caused her knees to buckle.

When the kiss finally ended and Sam could think even remotely coherently, she grinned and said, "I take it you've read your memos?"

Not releasing her from his arms, Jack smiled and said "Who knew you could be such a tease? You are soo going to pay for this!"

A full blown smile lit Sam's face as she replied, "Ooooh, bring it on, sir! I look forward to it!"

oOo

The memo that had caused the interesting change in Sam's behavior was on the top of the pile of her in-basket. To summarize the information that had her acting outside her usually by-the-book, normal reserve: The fraternization regulations that had kept the two of them apart for so long, had been amended to allow relationships between officers - even those in the same chain of command - within the SGC. However, even though the rules had been changed, all those affected by the change were still expected to behave with discretion while on duty. Reviews would be made at regular intervals to make sure the rules were being followed, and if not, then more changes would be made.

Needless to say, the two of them would be thoroughly enjoying the possibilities this change meant for them.

NOTE: I'd like to acknowledge the advice and suggestions given me by a friend for this story. I'll have to refer to her as "she who prefers to not be named" since she doesn't really think she gave that much help. But she did, and I appreciate it. And she knows who she is, too.