Fic: Revisions #3: Close One
Title: Revisions: Close One
Author: Pepper
Rating: G
Season: One
Related SG-1 Episode(s): 110 The Torment Of Tantalus
Featured Character(s): Sam, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c
Pairing(s): Sam/Jack
Summary: Episode addition.
A/N: See also Revisions #1: Conjecture, and Revisions #2: On Behalf Of The Lunatic Fringe
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Captain Sam Carter watched the flickering wormhole, her heart in her mouth.
"Wormhole is destabilizing. Still no travellers."
Thanks, Walter, she thought sarcastically. "Come on, guys." God, where were Jack and Daniel? They'd been a fraction of a second behind her - so they should have been right on her heels coming out of the wormhole. And yet they weren't. As the seconds ticked past, she wondered what had changed in the few moments after she left. She clenched her hands into fists, feeling sweat prickling her palms. If they weren't through in the next few seconds, chances were she'd never see them again - never know what had happened to them. Just like Catherine. Well, except of course that Catherine had got her Ernest back, after all.
Her heart stuttered with the wormhole's erratic pulse. Come on, come on...
And then a figure in green camo dived through, followed by another, and the wormhole winked out so close behind them that she wondered horribly if the second traveller had got completely through. She hurried up the ramp. Both back - both okay. A little dusty, a little bruised, but all there. She closed her eyes, letting out a breath in relief. Daniel sat up, and she went to help him.
"Close one," he sighed.
"Ya think?"
She met the Colonel's eyes for a moment. "You don't know how close," she said, tightly. She hauled Daniel up, firmly repressing the desire to give him a good hard shake and yell, "What the hell were you thinking?!" Oh, she was all for the pushing of boundaries, the taking of risks in order to discover more about the universe - the 'meaning of life stuff', as Daniel had put it. But sometimes he was single-minded to the point of obsession. And he'd almost taken the Colonel down with him.
She was working up a good dose of mad, now the adrenaline was wearing off.
They came to a ragged halt in front of General Hammond, who'd made his way down to the Gateroom to see for himself that his first team were okay. "Report to the infirmary," he said, looking them over.
"We're fine, sir," said Colonel O'Neill, jauntily. "Just a bit dirty, that's all." He slapped at his uniform, sending up a cloud of rock dust that made him cough.
"Very well. Debrief in thirty minutes. Go get yourselves cleaned up."
The Colonel gave one of his slapdash salutes, and led his team off to the locker room to shower and change. Sam stomped along behind the others. In the elevator, the negative energy coming off her in waves was so obvious that it drew the eyes of all three men to her. "You okay, Captain?"
She glanced at her superior officer. "Yes, sir."
"Yeah? Only you look... pissed."
"I'm fine, sir," she said, shooting Daniel a venomous look. He looked startled.
"What?"
"Oh, don't act so innocent," she snapped, temper flaring abruptly. "That was a really stupid thing to do and you know it! You could've gotten both of you killed!"
"Hey," said Daniel, putting up his hands defensively, "I came back, didn't I?"
"Barely! An instant later and we'd've only got half a Colonel!"
Daniel blanched. Teal'c raised an eyebrow. The Colonel looked slightly queasy. "Carter," he said firmly, "it worked out okay. Don't stress it."
"Don't-?" Her voice was getting high-pitched, she realised, and she resisted the urge to throw up her hands and shout, "Men!" She huffed angrily instead. "Why aren't you angry about this?"
The Colonel shot Daniel a worried look. "Sam, don't you think you're overreacting a little?" The moment he said it, he knew it was a mistake. The temperature dropped several degrees. Sam drew in a sharp breath. For a moment, they all thought she was going to blast their eardrums out. But she restrained herself, visibly simmering.
"Overreacting?" she asked, dangerously quiet.
The door opened on the locker-room level. Daniel and Teal'c, not currently being pinned by Sam's icy glare, fled. "Hey-!" said the Colonel, to their cowardly backs.
"Overreacting?"
"Sam, listen, cool down."
"Cool down?" She was starting to get a little louder. And suddenly Jack discovered his anger.
"Cool down, Captain," he said, drawing himself up to his full height. Close together as they were in the elevator, he towered over her. "That's an order!"
"An order? With all due respect, sir, you can't order me not to be pissed off!" There was absolutely no 'due respect' in her tone.
"I can order you to go take a cold shower," he suggested, nastily. "And I can order you to go see Doc Frasier about the sudden - inexplicable - mood swings. Are you sure you didn't bump your head?"
Sam's nostrils flared. He was suggesting that she was being irrational? "If you want this floor, I suggest you get out now," she said - absolutely the rudest she'd ever been to a superior officer. But damned if he didn't deserve it. She slammed a hand against the button for the infirmary floor. "I'm going to go get checked out. I can use the shower in the infirmary. I'll be sure to ask Janet to look for head injuries."
The Colonel had to move quickly to avoid being caught in the doors. "You do that!" he exclaimed angrily as they slid shut on his insubordinate subordinate. It wasn't his snappiest comeback.
When they met up, thirty minutes later, all were cleaned up, and had cooled down considerably. Daniel, the Colonel, and Sam all had slightly sheepish expressions. They exchanged glances.
"Sir, I wish to apologise for my earlier behaviour," Sam began, keen to get her apologies in first. "I was... overreacting."
"That's okay, Captain," said the Colonel, relieved she wasn't going to yell at him again. "I wasn't very diplomatic."
"I was a bit of an idiot," chimed in Daniel.
Automatically, they all turned to Teal'c. "I have nothing to apologise for," he said sternly.
"No, I, uh, guess not," said the Colonel. "But it throws the whole rhythm."
Teal'c looked around at them. Sam could have sworn he was grinning internally. Certainly his eyes were twinkling. "Very well," he said, majestically. "Then I apologise."
The Colonel gave a delighted grin. "Aw, thanks, Teal'c! We forgive you - don't we, kids?"
"Sure do," said Daniel.
"Nothing to forgive," said Sam, magnanimously.
"Indeed."
General Hammond cleared his throat behind them, and they all turned, startled, and shared a conspiratorial look. "If you're *quite* finished," said the General, hiding his own grin with the ease of years of practice, "then may we get down to the debriefing?"
"Oh, of course, General."
"Sorry, General."
"I apologise."
"Sorry, sir."
"Have a seat, won't you, Doctor Jackson?"
"Why thank you, Captain Carter."
"Oh, don't mention it, Doctor."
"Teal'c? Would you care to start us off?"
"Indeed I would, Colonel O'Neill."
"Thank you very much."
"You are welcome."
And with a great deal of unnecessary ceremoniousness, and a lot of repressed grins, SG-1 began their debrief.
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THE END.