Sam and her boys, 10: It's all in the... genes, PG13, Sam/Jack/Siler
Back to Chapter 9: Bravery
or to Chapter 1 for info
To read it all the chapters on one page, click here
Summary: Of ATA genes and hurried mornings
Chapter 10: It's all in the... genes (PG13)
AN:and a little crack to lighten things up :D
Jack woke to his cell ringing and shifted to pick it off his night table, grunting as Siler's arms tightened around him in his sleep. As casual as he was when he was awake, they'd discovered that every so often, their master sergeant got stubbornly possessive in his sleep. When that happened, getting him to let go tended to equal waking him up.
Which was why the cell was near the edge of the table; so that Jack could reach it from the bed. Simpler.
When the connection finally shut down, he closed his eyes with an annoyed growl; not *again*! Not thinking about it, he went to get up, and this time Siler grumbled awake, "Jack?"
The arms that had held him released wordlessly and he turned over to drop a kiss on the sleepy man's forehead, "Go back to sleep. I have to go to Washington."
When Siler dragged himself up to a sitting position, blinking tiredly, Jack shook his head with exasperation, "Go back to sleep, Siler. There's no reason for you to be up."
Siler just groaned as he pushed himself to his feet shakily, "I have to be up in an hour anyway."
Swallowing any further wasted arguments, Jack teased instead, "You just want to join me in the shower."
Siler's lips barely twitched, eyes still three-quarters closed with grubby sleepiness, "*I'm* not the one with a hard-on, general."
"You will be."
Standing under the warm spray, Jack watched him clumsily grab the shampoo and shook his head, taking it from him, "Just why did you have to insist on getting up, Sparky?"
Siler didn't answer, concentrating on standing as Jack soaped his hair. All too aware that he was being babied but too wiped out to argue. He'd wake up soon enough; and Jack knew perfectly well why he'd gotten up. None of them enjoyed separations; Jack was as silently clingy when he or Sam had to leave for any length of time. They were all too experienced and too old to not know the value of every minute.
Nothing would make possible loss more bearable.. but these moments helped make the actual time apart easier. Mostly.
####
Eating cereal and sipping coffee in the kitchen, the too-early morning darkness making everything more quiet and close, Jack shifted for the hundredth time, trying to get comfortable in his dress uniform. "You'll tell Sam I had to go? It's just a few hours, I'll be back before you are."
"Yeah."
The tired mutter made Jack frown, annoyed at how worn down his partners were, "How much longer are those upgrades going to take you two?"
"Couple days."
####
Glad that Jack had gotten home last night after his two-day long supposed 'few hours', but still tired from the heavy load of upgrades they'd barely finished, Siler's concentration was crap.
"Do that again, Siler!"
"Uh?" Siler looked up from his clipboard of test results, absently licking his lips as he tried hard to think up another angle to take to the beyond-old, apparent 'mechanism' with the Ancient scribbling on it.
"Didn't you hear it screech??"
Siler blinked impassively at Lee, turning his head to the other two scientists trying to silence another doohickey on the other side of the room, "Sorry, my ears have lost their dept perception. Assumed it was theirs."
Bill winced at a particularly annoying pitch from the corner, "Point taken," he brightened as he turned to their assignment again, "However, this thing definitely made a screech when you touched it. What did you do??"
Curious himself, Siler carefully thought back. All he'd done was turn the thing to see the side referenced in this particular surface test. Blanking his mind, he reached for the two-piece gadget and gently laid his hand in what he thought was the position he'd used.
And the object, which had up until now only ever reacted to carriers of the ATA gene, emitted a low-volumed screech.
Jerking his hand back in surprise, not to mention years of bad experiences, Siler watched with interest as Bill carefully copied his action without getting any response.
Another 10 minutes and the other two scientists had joined them, all intensely curious about Siler's apparent new gift, since none of them had been able to replicate it.
"Look, I *don't* have the ATA gene, alright? And genes don't magically... OK, forget I said that part." Siler winced, reminded that saying 'never' was something he **really** should know better than to try in this job.
They'd established it didn't matter where he or anyone else touched the two weird-shaped and enmeshed pieces of alien material; any time Siler touched them, a screech seemed to come out of the contact points between the pieces. And any time the other three touched it, it stayed quiet as a lump of clay.
Running his tongue over his teeth as he stared at the thing, mentally swearing at the attention from the theoretical PhD-ers and wishing he'd had time for coffee this morning, he suddenly stiffened, his breath catching and his eyes starting to widen before he caught himself.
He could feel a wave of heat climb up his neck and over his face as he desperately prayed he was letting fancy carry him away. It couldn't be! No one had ever reported such a thing.... Of course, who *would*?
"Siler? You OK??"
He jerked back as Doc Lee reached for him in concern and then blinked at him, trying to pretend he'd simply been deep in thought, "What? Sorry Doctor Lee, just trying to come up with some idea."
Bill frowned at him, "You looked terrified for a second. You should go to the infirmary. As a matter of fact, magic or no, you need a fresh gene scan."
####
"Ma'am? Sergeant Siler here."
Sam grinned a little at the formal tone, leaning back in the big chair with the phone tucked to her ear, grateful for the chance to stretch her requisition-signing fingers and wondering how such a commonplace thing as his *tone*, for crying out loud!, could be so endearing, "Sergeant?"
"I need your help."
This time she frowned, straightening as she noticed how muffled his voice was. Seeing an airman walk by her door, she got up and closed it before asking, "Siler? What's wrong?"
"..What do you think the chances are that the presence of ATA gene not.. native to the host could allow someone to control Ancient technology?"
"Not.. what??"
"One of the damned widgets we've been trying to figure out decided to start responding to *me* this morning!"
Sam's brows rose, her curiosity piqued at the possibilities this opened up, considering the only partial success of Beckett's gene therapy. She leaned on the corner of her desk, happy to have something technical to focus on, "What do you mean by not being native to the host?"
".." Sam strained to hear as he muttered a few choice swearwords before downright whispering, "I was too late to have breakfast this morning because we-" his voice suddenly shifted to a normal register, "Yes sir, the generator is on my list this afternoon, sir," his voice shifted, speaking to someone else, "Excuse me, I'll be there in a few minutes, Doctor Lee."
Absently listening to him fake their conversation, Sam pieced together his coded words with the situation and his reaction and bit her lip to keep from grinning unkindly. When the sound shifted back to muffled, she cleared her throat, trying to sound severe, "You mean he made you late by asking for a-"
"No!... *I* was-"
Sam's mouth dropped, unholy glee filling her. No matter how much she *wanted* to be sympathetic, this was just too funny! "You-?!" She lost it before she could make a full sentence.
"..As much as I adore to hear you giggle, this isn't funny! The whole time the damn doc was handing me bloody cups I was sitting there praying she wouldn't decide to take a mouth-swab for some crazy damned reason!" Banging his head lightly against on the wall next to the phone as he held his hand around his mouth and the speaker, Siler listened to Sam giggle helplessly in his ear. It wasn't that he didn't understand; hell, he shuddered to think what Jack's reaction was going to be. He was *never* going to live to this down!
"S-" he choked back the name as too dangerous to say out loud in the SGC, "I just need some wild theory for why I can suddenly activate Ancient technology. *Please*."
She was sputtering, choking on the laughter as she finally answered, "Y- you seriously th-th-th-think it's because you.. you.. you-"
Siler groaned, wishing there wasn't still the ghost of a taste in his mouth making the memory crystal clear at a time when he really didn't need it. "Yes! My DNA hasn't changed, I'm no more Ancient than I ever was," he perked up suddenly, "Wait.. haven't *you* ever-"
Sam seemed to finally have herself under some control and answered with no more than a chuckle, "No, I haven't actually had that much occasion to play with Ancient gadgets since I starting having occasions to-"
"Damn, I really have to go. *Any* ideas?"
Smiling helplessly at the despairing tone, Sam threw out a whimsical "..It's broken?"
"And detecting only me?"
"Have a coke on your way back to the lab? Should break down the last of-" she choked, a last giggle escaping, "Anyway, then this can all be chalked up to a total mystery.." At least until everyone forgot *this* incident.. then she'd have to manufacture the means to investigate this. In an emergency, if it worked on the newer Ancient equipment too, it could seriously increase their force of people who could help defend Earth...
####
Sam watched affectionately as Jack leaned against the wall weakly, laughing so hard there were tears streaming down his face. She'd debated letting Siler break it to him; or even *not*. But this way Siler was at least saved the laughter, if not the teasing that would follow. And there was no way, with as often as Jack visited the mountain, that he could avoid hearing about such an unprecedented event. Especially not with what a big deal his gene had been.
Still, she had to at least *try* to protect Siler a *little*, "You wouldn't be laughing if it was you getting the big needles." And he might yet if someone decided to compare the device's reaction to *his* gene...
It took a minute for even that silent threat to have any effect, but then Jack finally toned down to chuckles, wiping his eyes and grinning like a loon. "Oh god.." he sputtered, trying to control more laughter, "I just can't believe that of all mornings to go and touch an ancient doohickey without washing his mouth, it fell on a day that it's his own fault!"
"Jaaaack..." She knew too well how frustrated *she* felt on this damned schedule where she didn't get to see Siler; 'fault' was pushing it.
His eyes widened at her warning tone and he started shaking his head and shaking his finger at her, "Oh no! Nonono! If *I*'d been the one to ask this morning, you'd both be *growling* at me. I'm soooo allowed to gloat that Sergeant always-in-control Siler was horny from missing half his dose of sex and chose to end up with my DNA in his mouth!"
####
"I'm never getting a blowjob before work again, am I?"
"No."
"Aw come on, I hardly teased at all..."
"No."
"I'd do it for you.."
"Yeah? You can go volunteer for some injections anytime you want."
####
"..So it looks like the Ancients figured out that their sensors were letting their alien girlfriends run their technology when they got a blowjob and tightened their protocols. If we find a very ancient Ancient powerful weapon though..." Sam grinned at her boys across the supper table; Siler was practising his taciturn look, but Jack pouted at her pronouncement.
"Awww! You mean I can't order him to-"
Next in he verse is Chapter 10a: Intimacy (NC17)
or to Chapter 1 for info
To read it all the chapters on one page, click here
Summary: Of ATA genes and hurried mornings
Chapter 10: It's all in the... genes (PG13)
AN:and a little crack to lighten things up :D
Jack woke to his cell ringing and shifted to pick it off his night table, grunting as Siler's arms tightened around him in his sleep. As casual as he was when he was awake, they'd discovered that every so often, their master sergeant got stubbornly possessive in his sleep. When that happened, getting him to let go tended to equal waking him up.
Which was why the cell was near the edge of the table; so that Jack could reach it from the bed. Simpler.
When the connection finally shut down, he closed his eyes with an annoyed growl; not *again*! Not thinking about it, he went to get up, and this time Siler grumbled awake, "Jack?"
The arms that had held him released wordlessly and he turned over to drop a kiss on the sleepy man's forehead, "Go back to sleep. I have to go to Washington."
When Siler dragged himself up to a sitting position, blinking tiredly, Jack shook his head with exasperation, "Go back to sleep, Siler. There's no reason for you to be up."
Siler just groaned as he pushed himself to his feet shakily, "I have to be up in an hour anyway."
Swallowing any further wasted arguments, Jack teased instead, "You just want to join me in the shower."
Siler's lips barely twitched, eyes still three-quarters closed with grubby sleepiness, "*I'm* not the one with a hard-on, general."
"You will be."
Standing under the warm spray, Jack watched him clumsily grab the shampoo and shook his head, taking it from him, "Just why did you have to insist on getting up, Sparky?"
Siler didn't answer, concentrating on standing as Jack soaped his hair. All too aware that he was being babied but too wiped out to argue. He'd wake up soon enough; and Jack knew perfectly well why he'd gotten up. None of them enjoyed separations; Jack was as silently clingy when he or Sam had to leave for any length of time. They were all too experienced and too old to not know the value of every minute.
Nothing would make possible loss more bearable.. but these moments helped make the actual time apart easier. Mostly.
####
Eating cereal and sipping coffee in the kitchen, the too-early morning darkness making everything more quiet and close, Jack shifted for the hundredth time, trying to get comfortable in his dress uniform. "You'll tell Sam I had to go? It's just a few hours, I'll be back before you are."
"Yeah."
The tired mutter made Jack frown, annoyed at how worn down his partners were, "How much longer are those upgrades going to take you two?"
"Couple days."
####
Glad that Jack had gotten home last night after his two-day long supposed 'few hours', but still tired from the heavy load of upgrades they'd barely finished, Siler's concentration was crap.
"Do that again, Siler!"
"Uh?" Siler looked up from his clipboard of test results, absently licking his lips as he tried hard to think up another angle to take to the beyond-old, apparent 'mechanism' with the Ancient scribbling on it.
"Didn't you hear it screech??"
Siler blinked impassively at Lee, turning his head to the other two scientists trying to silence another doohickey on the other side of the room, "Sorry, my ears have lost their dept perception. Assumed it was theirs."
Bill winced at a particularly annoying pitch from the corner, "Point taken," he brightened as he turned to their assignment again, "However, this thing definitely made a screech when you touched it. What did you do??"
Curious himself, Siler carefully thought back. All he'd done was turn the thing to see the side referenced in this particular surface test. Blanking his mind, he reached for the two-piece gadget and gently laid his hand in what he thought was the position he'd used.
And the object, which had up until now only ever reacted to carriers of the ATA gene, emitted a low-volumed screech.
Jerking his hand back in surprise, not to mention years of bad experiences, Siler watched with interest as Bill carefully copied his action without getting any response.
Another 10 minutes and the other two scientists had joined them, all intensely curious about Siler's apparent new gift, since none of them had been able to replicate it.
"Look, I *don't* have the ATA gene, alright? And genes don't magically... OK, forget I said that part." Siler winced, reminded that saying 'never' was something he **really** should know better than to try in this job.
They'd established it didn't matter where he or anyone else touched the two weird-shaped and enmeshed pieces of alien material; any time Siler touched them, a screech seemed to come out of the contact points between the pieces. And any time the other three touched it, it stayed quiet as a lump of clay.
Running his tongue over his teeth as he stared at the thing, mentally swearing at the attention from the theoretical PhD-ers and wishing he'd had time for coffee this morning, he suddenly stiffened, his breath catching and his eyes starting to widen before he caught himself.
He could feel a wave of heat climb up his neck and over his face as he desperately prayed he was letting fancy carry him away. It couldn't be! No one had ever reported such a thing.... Of course, who *would*?
"Siler? You OK??"
He jerked back as Doc Lee reached for him in concern and then blinked at him, trying to pretend he'd simply been deep in thought, "What? Sorry Doctor Lee, just trying to come up with some idea."
Bill frowned at him, "You looked terrified for a second. You should go to the infirmary. As a matter of fact, magic or no, you need a fresh gene scan."
####
"Ma'am? Sergeant Siler here."
Sam grinned a little at the formal tone, leaning back in the big chair with the phone tucked to her ear, grateful for the chance to stretch her requisition-signing fingers and wondering how such a commonplace thing as his *tone*, for crying out loud!, could be so endearing, "Sergeant?"
"I need your help."
This time she frowned, straightening as she noticed how muffled his voice was. Seeing an airman walk by her door, she got up and closed it before asking, "Siler? What's wrong?"
"..What do you think the chances are that the presence of ATA gene not.. native to the host could allow someone to control Ancient technology?"
"Not.. what??"
"One of the damned widgets we've been trying to figure out decided to start responding to *me* this morning!"
Sam's brows rose, her curiosity piqued at the possibilities this opened up, considering the only partial success of Beckett's gene therapy. She leaned on the corner of her desk, happy to have something technical to focus on, "What do you mean by not being native to the host?"
".." Sam strained to hear as he muttered a few choice swearwords before downright whispering, "I was too late to have breakfast this morning because we-" his voice suddenly shifted to a normal register, "Yes sir, the generator is on my list this afternoon, sir," his voice shifted, speaking to someone else, "Excuse me, I'll be there in a few minutes, Doctor Lee."
Absently listening to him fake their conversation, Sam pieced together his coded words with the situation and his reaction and bit her lip to keep from grinning unkindly. When the sound shifted back to muffled, she cleared her throat, trying to sound severe, "You mean he made you late by asking for a-"
"No!... *I* was-"
Sam's mouth dropped, unholy glee filling her. No matter how much she *wanted* to be sympathetic, this was just too funny! "You-?!" She lost it before she could make a full sentence.
"..As much as I adore to hear you giggle, this isn't funny! The whole time the damn doc was handing me bloody cups I was sitting there praying she wouldn't decide to take a mouth-swab for some crazy damned reason!" Banging his head lightly against on the wall next to the phone as he held his hand around his mouth and the speaker, Siler listened to Sam giggle helplessly in his ear. It wasn't that he didn't understand; hell, he shuddered to think what Jack's reaction was going to be. He was *never* going to live to this down!
"S-" he choked back the name as too dangerous to say out loud in the SGC, "I just need some wild theory for why I can suddenly activate Ancient technology. *Please*."
She was sputtering, choking on the laughter as she finally answered, "Y- you seriously th-th-th-think it's because you.. you.. you-"
Siler groaned, wishing there wasn't still the ghost of a taste in his mouth making the memory crystal clear at a time when he really didn't need it. "Yes! My DNA hasn't changed, I'm no more Ancient than I ever was," he perked up suddenly, "Wait.. haven't *you* ever-"
Sam seemed to finally have herself under some control and answered with no more than a chuckle, "No, I haven't actually had that much occasion to play with Ancient gadgets since I starting having occasions to-"
"Damn, I really have to go. *Any* ideas?"
Smiling helplessly at the despairing tone, Sam threw out a whimsical "..It's broken?"
"And detecting only me?"
"Have a coke on your way back to the lab? Should break down the last of-" she choked, a last giggle escaping, "Anyway, then this can all be chalked up to a total mystery.." At least until everyone forgot *this* incident.. then she'd have to manufacture the means to investigate this. In an emergency, if it worked on the newer Ancient equipment too, it could seriously increase their force of people who could help defend Earth...
####
Sam watched affectionately as Jack leaned against the wall weakly, laughing so hard there were tears streaming down his face. She'd debated letting Siler break it to him; or even *not*. But this way Siler was at least saved the laughter, if not the teasing that would follow. And there was no way, with as often as Jack visited the mountain, that he could avoid hearing about such an unprecedented event. Especially not with what a big deal his gene had been.
Still, she had to at least *try* to protect Siler a *little*, "You wouldn't be laughing if it was you getting the big needles." And he might yet if someone decided to compare the device's reaction to *his* gene...
It took a minute for even that silent threat to have any effect, but then Jack finally toned down to chuckles, wiping his eyes and grinning like a loon. "Oh god.." he sputtered, trying to control more laughter, "I just can't believe that of all mornings to go and touch an ancient doohickey without washing his mouth, it fell on a day that it's his own fault!"
"Jaaaack..." She knew too well how frustrated *she* felt on this damned schedule where she didn't get to see Siler; 'fault' was pushing it.
His eyes widened at her warning tone and he started shaking his head and shaking his finger at her, "Oh no! Nonono! If *I*'d been the one to ask this morning, you'd both be *growling* at me. I'm soooo allowed to gloat that Sergeant always-in-control Siler was horny from missing half his dose of sex and chose to end up with my DNA in his mouth!"
####
"I'm never getting a blowjob before work again, am I?"
"No."
"Aw come on, I hardly teased at all..."
"No."
"I'd do it for you.."
"Yeah? You can go volunteer for some injections anytime you want."
####
"..So it looks like the Ancients figured out that their sensors were letting their alien girlfriends run their technology when they got a blowjob and tightened their protocols. If we find a very ancient Ancient powerful weapon though..." Sam grinned at her boys across the supper table; Siler was practising his taciturn look, but Jack pouted at her pronouncement.
"Awww! You mean I can't order him to-"
Next in he verse is Chapter 10a: Intimacy (NC17)