Twenty One Days (Chapter 3)
Title: Twenty One Days
Rating: R
Category: Humor, Angst
Summary: A twisted and unique look at what might have happened during the 3 weeks SG-1 spent in a palace by the beach.
Day Three: Sam (Layton)
This is so amazing.
I lie back down on the floor, pulling out the case one of the technicians back on base sent through to me. This technology was so far ahead of us.
I touch the base of the pedestal and it slides back, revealing all of the dials and buttons I was just dying to play with. I had my orders, though. No tampering with the technology. Or, as put by Colonel O'Neill, 'NO touching.' Not until we were in the clear, anyway. I was allowed to slowly lower to dosage of the drug being released, but that was it. The only time I could touch.
But that didn't mean I couldn't look.
I really wanted to get Loran back in here and have him explain in more depth what all of these parts do, but for some reason, he seems to be avoiding me. He spends most of his time following the Colonel around, asking him to explain hockey and baseball. I would have thought he'd be excited to have the chance to tell someone about it--but the Colonel hasn't been himself.
"Sam?"
I look up and smile at Daniel's voice. He gives me a weak grin in return, and lowers himself down beside me. We both turn back to the pedestal, and study it without speaking. I still wasn't sure what had happened that day with him--I'd been too out of then it to check, and now it was too late to ask. All I knew, was like Barber, Daniel had tried to take his own life, but unlike Barber, thank god, the Colonel had reached Daniel in time.
I turn to glance at him. He's staring at the pedestal with the same intense gaze I had been staring at the light only days ago. I want to know what happened to him--I hate this not knowing, and I hate all the different scenarios running through my head, all the possible ways the Colonel may have found him. But I won't ask. I can't. I'm not even sure I want to know.
He feels my gaze and turns to me, giving me another smile. "What are you doing?" he asks.
I sigh and rest my chin on my hand. "Just looking," I tell him.
He grins then, and his blue eyes sparkle. "Jack won't let you touch, huh?"
We share a look. We've both been in this position before, and we both can understand the Colonel's caution, even if we don't always agree.
"Well," he says. "I'm sure there's some more technology lying around, just waiting for you to find it."
"I've been exploring," I tell him. "But I haven't seen anything. There's a shower room, but it's all of simplistic structure, nothing we don't have on Earth. There was a voice activated fireplace in one of the lobby rooms that was kind of neat, but again--"
"Nothing you haven't seen before," Daniel guesses.
I smile at him. He always understands. "Right. This though," I say nodding to the pedestal. "This is new."
"Yes, but how much could you learn from it?" he asks. "Why would we ever want to recreate a technology that is more addictive than anything we have now?"
"Well--it isn't so much what it does, as it is how it does it," I say.
He smiles at me again. Wow, four smiles? I've got to talk shop with Daniel more often. "I get it," he says. "It's the puzzle of it. It's the same way for me. Figuring out a translation or the purpose of some relic."
"Exactly," I say brightly.
"What ARE you two doing?"
Both Daniel and I glance up as the Colonel enters the room. He gives us both a suspicious look. "Didn't I tell you no touching?"
"We aren't," I say quickly, just before Daniel adds innocently, "I can't touch Sam?"
The Colonel rolls his eyes upwards, asking the powers that be for patience, no doubt. I grin. If Daniel was getting his sense of humor back, he couldn't be too bad off.
"We're just looking at the design, Colonel," I say.
"How thrilling," he smirks.
Daniel throws him a withering glance. "Did you need something?"
The Colonel grins broadly. "Nope."
Daniel sighs. "Shouldn't you be watching Loran . . .?"
"Teal'c's teaching him the finer points of daytime soaps," Jack said with a grin. "Quite scintillating, really, but I felt I had to leave as he started describing Hope's third wedding to Bo."
I laughed and shook my head. Teal'c first discovered soap operas when the Colonel made the mistake of turning on General Hospital during a team dinner. Things went downhill from there.
When he started tuning into Passions, we considered holding an intervention--but we were all a little afraid what he might do to us if we tried to cut him off.
"Well," Daniel says. "You're certainly welcome to join us."
The Colonel's eyes narrow. "But you aren't doing anything."
"Actually, sir," I put in. "We are. We're examining the device."
"But you can't touch," he reminds me loudly.
"I know that, sir, but--"
"So let's go do something fun, instead."
Daniel tenses beside me. Over the years--we've become increasingly anxious about the Colonel's idea of 'fun,' and the fact that he often drags us into it.
"There's nothing to do here," Daniel says. "Why don't you just take Doc and go for a romantic stroll along the beach? Two moons are out, the water lapping at your feet---I think Doc would like that."
Daniel grins mischievously at the Colonel, who glares back.
Doc? What was Doc doing here? "You brought Doc?" I ask him.
I never get to take GI-Jane.
Daniel nods, then leans over and whispers conspiratorially, "Jack thinks Doc has a thing for him."
"I do not," the Colonel roars. "The damn thing felt me up once--nothing more."
I can't stop my eyes from going wide. But the look the Colonel throws my way has me swallowing the laughter. Outwardly, anyway.
He points a finger at me. "And don't give me that look." He gives a tight lipped grin. "I know ALL about your little GI-Jane."
I turn to glare at Daniel. "You TOLD him?"
He gives me an innocent look. "I wasn't supposed to?"
I place my head in my hands. So now my commanding officer knows I have a small little green toy that I keep with me on base. Great, just great. God--I hope Daniel didn't tell him about the marbles.
"Don't worry, Carter. Nothing to be ashamed of," he tells me pompously.
"Well, yes, you had better say that," Daniel tells him. "Considering you've been--"
The Colonel is moving before Daniel can finish, and a hand is clamped over his mouth. He then turns and smiles at me, holding his hand in place as Daniel tugs at his arm indignantly. "Don't listen to him--he doesn't know what he's talking about," he tells me.
I didn't know what either of them were talking about.
"Jack!" Daniel's muffled shout has the Colonel reluctantly removing his hand, but I'm guessing the warning glare he throws his way will keep him quiet just as effectively.
I glanced at Daniel speculatively. At least, that is, until I could get him alone. Three pixie sticks and I could get Daniel to tell me anything.
Daniel glares at the Colonel, but as I suspected, he doesn't complete his sentence.
"You guys can't look at this all day. Without the light on--it's not exactly entrancing," the Colonel says, smoothly moving the subject away from whatever he doesn’t want me to know.
"What would you suggest, Jack?" Daniel asks tiredly. "We all go listen to Teal'c talk about Days of Our Lives?"
I smiled at the thought. I was pretty sure we'd all rather stare at the pedestal.
"We could talk," the Colonel answers promptly. "We never just talk."
We always talked. Didn't we?
Daniel looks as wary as me. "Talk, Jack? Is this what boredom has brought you to? You want to TALK?"
"Well--since Hammond turned down my request for the T.V. and VCR," he pauses, and I guessed he was mentally cutting 'Simpson's tapes' from the list. "Yes. I want to talk."
Daniel grins then, broadly and not a little condescending. Uh, oh. I sigh. Daniel was dangerous with that grin. And the last thing we needed on this trip was for the Colonel and Daniel to . . . well, be their usual selves.
"Okay, Jack," he says, motioning to the Colonel with a hand. "So talk."
The Colonel seems at a loss. He opens his mouth, and it remains that way--no words forthcoming.
Daniel raises an eyebrow. "What was that?" he asks.
"I meant you two should talk," the Colonel says finally. "I'll listen," he adds with a grin.
Daniel rolls his eyes. "Sorry, Jack," he says. "But I'm not in the mood to entertain you."
I glance at Daniel. Daniel was always up for verbally battling the Colonel. I notice that this seems to concern the Colonel as well, instead of making him angry and causing him to snap back with a retort--as it usually might.
I meet the Colonel's eyes, and didn't like what I saw looking back at me. The two of them had been all but back to their usual selves today, and though I joke, I'd been relieved. But I was thinking there were still some things that had been left unresolved.
The Colonel sighs, and glances back over to Daniel. "Okay--no talking," he says. "I should probably get back in there and save Loran before Teal'c gets started on the marriages of Erica Kane, anyway."
He turns around and leaves then, and beside me Daniel turns on his back, and stares at the ceiling and not looking at me.
"Daniel?" I query.
"You know he won't be able to rescue him," Daniel tells me finally. "Teal'c will give him a look and Jack will sit down to listen too. I suppose we should go provide back-up."
I grimace. I really didn't care to hear about this Erica Kane. "Don't you think that's a bit risky? What if we get stuck there too--"
"Don't talk like that," he tells me. His eyes coming back to life as we kid. Well, we were mostly kidding. "We can do this. For Loran, for Jack--we have to try to help them."
Daniel and I get to our feet slowly, and cautiously enter the gate room. Teal'c is on the steps, a rapt Loran across from him, watching him with wide eyes. Whether it was real interest or morbid fascination, I couldn't be sure. I had learned the hard way it was hard to distinguish the two with Loran. The Colonel was beside Loran, sitting cross legged on the floor, holding his chin in his hand. Looking completely and utterly bored.
"This will be tricky," I say. "How are we going to get them out?"
Daniel sighed. "We could try to change the subject to Star Wars--you know how strongly Teal'c feels about Star Wars."
"Yes, but is that any better?" I asked. Not that I didn't like Star Wars, but I didn't want to listen to one of Teal'c's three hour analysis's on C3PO.
"It's all we've got," he reminds me.
I nod and we enter the room. Teal'c looks up at us as we enter, and beams over at us. I smile cautiously back. Teal'c didn't smile much--and when he did, it was usually because we've just kicked some Goa'uld's ass--or because he's just told another completely incomprehensible 'Jaffa Joke'. It was always a bit disconcerting to see him smiling.
"Daniel Jackson, Major Carter," he says. "Please, come sit, we are discussing All My Children."
"Actually we thought--" Daniel begins, but Teal'c's eyes darken and Daniel trails off.
"Do you not wish to learn of Erica Kane, Daniel Jackson?"
"I--" he starts, then he turns to me for help.
"Then sit," Teal'c says deeply.
Daniel drops to the floor beside Loran instantly--the turncoat. Teal'c turns to look at me. "Major Carter?"
The Colonel grins over at Daniel and I, and the grin's message is unmistakable. Welcome to hell, the grin said. And also, I notice, watching as the Colonel turns to look at Daniel, there was probably a 'thanks for coming' in there somewhere.
I give a tight lipped grin. There was nothing better to do, right? I sat down next to Daniel. "Okay, Teal'c," I say. "Who is Erica Kane?"
Rating: R
Category: Humor, Angst
Summary: A twisted and unique look at what might have happened during the 3 weeks SG-1 spent in a palace by the beach.
Day Three: Sam (Layton)
This is so amazing.
I lie back down on the floor, pulling out the case one of the technicians back on base sent through to me. This technology was so far ahead of us.
I touch the base of the pedestal and it slides back, revealing all of the dials and buttons I was just dying to play with. I had my orders, though. No tampering with the technology. Or, as put by Colonel O'Neill, 'NO touching.' Not until we were in the clear, anyway. I was allowed to slowly lower to dosage of the drug being released, but that was it. The only time I could touch.
But that didn't mean I couldn't look.
I really wanted to get Loran back in here and have him explain in more depth what all of these parts do, but for some reason, he seems to be avoiding me. He spends most of his time following the Colonel around, asking him to explain hockey and baseball. I would have thought he'd be excited to have the chance to tell someone about it--but the Colonel hasn't been himself.
"Sam?"
I look up and smile at Daniel's voice. He gives me a weak grin in return, and lowers himself down beside me. We both turn back to the pedestal, and study it without speaking. I still wasn't sure what had happened that day with him--I'd been too out of then it to check, and now it was too late to ask. All I knew, was like Barber, Daniel had tried to take his own life, but unlike Barber, thank god, the Colonel had reached Daniel in time.
I turn to glance at him. He's staring at the pedestal with the same intense gaze I had been staring at the light only days ago. I want to know what happened to him--I hate this not knowing, and I hate all the different scenarios running through my head, all the possible ways the Colonel may have found him. But I won't ask. I can't. I'm not even sure I want to know.
He feels my gaze and turns to me, giving me another smile. "What are you doing?" he asks.
I sigh and rest my chin on my hand. "Just looking," I tell him.
He grins then, and his blue eyes sparkle. "Jack won't let you touch, huh?"
We share a look. We've both been in this position before, and we both can understand the Colonel's caution, even if we don't always agree.
"Well," he says. "I'm sure there's some more technology lying around, just waiting for you to find it."
"I've been exploring," I tell him. "But I haven't seen anything. There's a shower room, but it's all of simplistic structure, nothing we don't have on Earth. There was a voice activated fireplace in one of the lobby rooms that was kind of neat, but again--"
"Nothing you haven't seen before," Daniel guesses.
I smile at him. He always understands. "Right. This though," I say nodding to the pedestal. "This is new."
"Yes, but how much could you learn from it?" he asks. "Why would we ever want to recreate a technology that is more addictive than anything we have now?"
"Well--it isn't so much what it does, as it is how it does it," I say.
He smiles at me again. Wow, four smiles? I've got to talk shop with Daniel more often. "I get it," he says. "It's the puzzle of it. It's the same way for me. Figuring out a translation or the purpose of some relic."
"Exactly," I say brightly.
"What ARE you two doing?"
Both Daniel and I glance up as the Colonel enters the room. He gives us both a suspicious look. "Didn't I tell you no touching?"
"We aren't," I say quickly, just before Daniel adds innocently, "I can't touch Sam?"
The Colonel rolls his eyes upwards, asking the powers that be for patience, no doubt. I grin. If Daniel was getting his sense of humor back, he couldn't be too bad off.
"We're just looking at the design, Colonel," I say.
"How thrilling," he smirks.
Daniel throws him a withering glance. "Did you need something?"
The Colonel grins broadly. "Nope."
Daniel sighs. "Shouldn't you be watching Loran . . .?"
"Teal'c's teaching him the finer points of daytime soaps," Jack said with a grin. "Quite scintillating, really, but I felt I had to leave as he started describing Hope's third wedding to Bo."
I laughed and shook my head. Teal'c first discovered soap operas when the Colonel made the mistake of turning on General Hospital during a team dinner. Things went downhill from there.
When he started tuning into Passions, we considered holding an intervention--but we were all a little afraid what he might do to us if we tried to cut him off.
"Well," Daniel says. "You're certainly welcome to join us."
The Colonel's eyes narrow. "But you aren't doing anything."
"Actually, sir," I put in. "We are. We're examining the device."
"But you can't touch," he reminds me loudly.
"I know that, sir, but--"
"So let's go do something fun, instead."
Daniel tenses beside me. Over the years--we've become increasingly anxious about the Colonel's idea of 'fun,' and the fact that he often drags us into it.
"There's nothing to do here," Daniel says. "Why don't you just take Doc and go for a romantic stroll along the beach? Two moons are out, the water lapping at your feet---I think Doc would like that."
Daniel grins mischievously at the Colonel, who glares back.
Doc? What was Doc doing here? "You brought Doc?" I ask him.
I never get to take GI-Jane.
Daniel nods, then leans over and whispers conspiratorially, "Jack thinks Doc has a thing for him."
"I do not," the Colonel roars. "The damn thing felt me up once--nothing more."
I can't stop my eyes from going wide. But the look the Colonel throws my way has me swallowing the laughter. Outwardly, anyway.
He points a finger at me. "And don't give me that look." He gives a tight lipped grin. "I know ALL about your little GI-Jane."
I turn to glare at Daniel. "You TOLD him?"
He gives me an innocent look. "I wasn't supposed to?"
I place my head in my hands. So now my commanding officer knows I have a small little green toy that I keep with me on base. Great, just great. God--I hope Daniel didn't tell him about the marbles.
"Don't worry, Carter. Nothing to be ashamed of," he tells me pompously.
"Well, yes, you had better say that," Daniel tells him. "Considering you've been--"
The Colonel is moving before Daniel can finish, and a hand is clamped over his mouth. He then turns and smiles at me, holding his hand in place as Daniel tugs at his arm indignantly. "Don't listen to him--he doesn't know what he's talking about," he tells me.
I didn't know what either of them were talking about.
"Jack!" Daniel's muffled shout has the Colonel reluctantly removing his hand, but I'm guessing the warning glare he throws his way will keep him quiet just as effectively.
I glanced at Daniel speculatively. At least, that is, until I could get him alone. Three pixie sticks and I could get Daniel to tell me anything.
Daniel glares at the Colonel, but as I suspected, he doesn't complete his sentence.
"You guys can't look at this all day. Without the light on--it's not exactly entrancing," the Colonel says, smoothly moving the subject away from whatever he doesn’t want me to know.
"What would you suggest, Jack?" Daniel asks tiredly. "We all go listen to Teal'c talk about Days of Our Lives?"
I smiled at the thought. I was pretty sure we'd all rather stare at the pedestal.
"We could talk," the Colonel answers promptly. "We never just talk."
We always talked. Didn't we?
Daniel looks as wary as me. "Talk, Jack? Is this what boredom has brought you to? You want to TALK?"
"Well--since Hammond turned down my request for the T.V. and VCR," he pauses, and I guessed he was mentally cutting 'Simpson's tapes' from the list. "Yes. I want to talk."
Daniel grins then, broadly and not a little condescending. Uh, oh. I sigh. Daniel was dangerous with that grin. And the last thing we needed on this trip was for the Colonel and Daniel to . . . well, be their usual selves.
"Okay, Jack," he says, motioning to the Colonel with a hand. "So talk."
The Colonel seems at a loss. He opens his mouth, and it remains that way--no words forthcoming.
Daniel raises an eyebrow. "What was that?" he asks.
"I meant you two should talk," the Colonel says finally. "I'll listen," he adds with a grin.
Daniel rolls his eyes. "Sorry, Jack," he says. "But I'm not in the mood to entertain you."
I glance at Daniel. Daniel was always up for verbally battling the Colonel. I notice that this seems to concern the Colonel as well, instead of making him angry and causing him to snap back with a retort--as it usually might.
I meet the Colonel's eyes, and didn't like what I saw looking back at me. The two of them had been all but back to their usual selves today, and though I joke, I'd been relieved. But I was thinking there were still some things that had been left unresolved.
The Colonel sighs, and glances back over to Daniel. "Okay--no talking," he says. "I should probably get back in there and save Loran before Teal'c gets started on the marriages of Erica Kane, anyway."
He turns around and leaves then, and beside me Daniel turns on his back, and stares at the ceiling and not looking at me.
"Daniel?" I query.
"You know he won't be able to rescue him," Daniel tells me finally. "Teal'c will give him a look and Jack will sit down to listen too. I suppose we should go provide back-up."
I grimace. I really didn't care to hear about this Erica Kane. "Don't you think that's a bit risky? What if we get stuck there too--"
"Don't talk like that," he tells me. His eyes coming back to life as we kid. Well, we were mostly kidding. "We can do this. For Loran, for Jack--we have to try to help them."
Daniel and I get to our feet slowly, and cautiously enter the gate room. Teal'c is on the steps, a rapt Loran across from him, watching him with wide eyes. Whether it was real interest or morbid fascination, I couldn't be sure. I had learned the hard way it was hard to distinguish the two with Loran. The Colonel was beside Loran, sitting cross legged on the floor, holding his chin in his hand. Looking completely and utterly bored.
"This will be tricky," I say. "How are we going to get them out?"
Daniel sighed. "We could try to change the subject to Star Wars--you know how strongly Teal'c feels about Star Wars."
"Yes, but is that any better?" I asked. Not that I didn't like Star Wars, but I didn't want to listen to one of Teal'c's three hour analysis's on C3PO.
"It's all we've got," he reminds me.
I nod and we enter the room. Teal'c looks up at us as we enter, and beams over at us. I smile cautiously back. Teal'c didn't smile much--and when he did, it was usually because we've just kicked some Goa'uld's ass--or because he's just told another completely incomprehensible 'Jaffa Joke'. It was always a bit disconcerting to see him smiling.
"Daniel Jackson, Major Carter," he says. "Please, come sit, we are discussing All My Children."
"Actually we thought--" Daniel begins, but Teal'c's eyes darken and Daniel trails off.
"Do you not wish to learn of Erica Kane, Daniel Jackson?"
"I--" he starts, then he turns to me for help.
"Then sit," Teal'c says deeply.
Daniel drops to the floor beside Loran instantly--the turncoat. Teal'c turns to look at me. "Major Carter?"
The Colonel grins over at Daniel and I, and the grin's message is unmistakable. Welcome to hell, the grin said. And also, I notice, watching as the Colonel turns to look at Daniel, there was probably a 'thanks for coming' in there somewhere.
I give a tight lipped grin. There was nothing better to do, right? I sat down next to Daniel. "Okay, Teal'c," I say. "Who is Erica Kane?"