"Oh! Come on Daniel, please! I'll buy you lunch"
Daniel replied without looking up from the book in front of him, "Tempting, but the answer's still no"
Major Samantha Carter had been standing in Daniel's 'organised mess' for the last ten minutes trying to persuade him to change his mind. "Teal'c is visiting Rya'c, Colonel O'Neill is at his cabin; there's no one else to come with me. I've wanted to go for ages but my downtime always gets filled up with something else"
"I know that feeling" Daniel mumbled, "I haven't finished cataloging the last lot of artefacts that were sent to me and I've just received a load more"
"You mean to tell me this stuff is organised?" Sam joked.
"No... That's kinda the point..."
"Daniel, please, just one afternoon..." She pleaded again.
Daniel was spared from answering by the arrival of their team leader.
"Jack! Aren't you supposed to be in Minnesota? Daniel asked looking at his watch.
"Yeah, well... My cousin and his family are at the cabin. I've been telling them to go for ages and didn't want to intrude" Jack explained.
Daniel looked up at him questioningly "So, they've got kids that you didn't want hanging around on your 5 day plan to do nothing but fish and drink beer?"
"That obvious?" Jack asked with surprise.
"Well, that's excellent news, Sir!" Sam interjected.
Jack raised his eyebrows at her.
"She wants you to go to the Science Museum with her, Jack. Take her - now - so I can get on with my work" Daniel stood up bustling them out.
"Science Museum, Carter? Do you get enough Science at work?" Jack asked her when they were out in the corridor.
"Apparently not, Sir. Come on, it'll be fun"
"Fun?"
"Well, for me at least... And, it's not like you're doing anything else"
Jack glared at her and sighed knowing she had a point. He puffed out his cheeks, "Alright, alright"
"Okay, I'll go get out of these" Sam pointed to her BDU's, moving quickly before he could change his mind.
"You wanna go now?" He called after her
She stopped and beamed at him, "Yeah! It's still early"
God, he loved that smile! Maybe she was right, this could be fun.
****
Jack watched her eyes light up as they walked through the main entrance.
"Woah..." Sam breathed, glancing at the glider hanging from the ceiling above them.
Jack turned to her, raising his eyebrows at her reaction. "Carter, we see this stuff and more on an almost daily basis"
"No Sir, we see things that are way more advanced than this. This is the stuff that all that originated from. That's why this stuff is so cool"
"It's cool because it's old? Ya' know, you're starting to sound like Daniel"
She smiled at him, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket, "Come on, let's go look at the planes"
She directed him down the small flight of stairs and further into the building towards the aviation gallery."Look, this plane belonged to Amy Johnson. When my mom used to take us to museums as a kid I used to love the stuff about Amy Johnson. Mark used to tease me that I'd turn out like Dad..."
"That's not such a bad thing. I like your dad" Jack pointed out.
"Ooooh, it was an insult then" Sam sucked air in between her teeth.
"It's weird to hear you talk about your mom; You rarely mention her"
"Yeah, I was pretty young when she died so my memories are kinda hazy" Sam shrugged.
Jack almost believed that she could brush the topic off so easily. Almost. But he could see the pain behind her eyes; he had been able to read her like a book for years now.
"I thought Mark might never speak to me again when I joined the Air Force" Sam explained, diverting the topic from her mother, "I even thought I'd made a huge mistake, but I thought about Amy Johnson and the adventures she had flying across the world, exploring and I thought 'why should she have all the fun?' Well, it was that and the fact that I thought the Air Force might get me into space. I knew I'd made the right decision when I joined the SGC"
"Yeah, the SGC has that effect" Jack replied, moving along the gallery. "Now, this us why *I* joined the Air Force" he pointed up to ceiling. "The Harrier Jump jet. My Grandfather used to take me to the air shows when I was kid in Minnesota and I just thought these were the coolest things"
"This is a Hawker, Sir. It's the prototype for the Harrier" Sam explained.
"Well, aren't you well informed?"
Sam laughed, "No, I read the information..."
"Smart ass"
***
"Hey, who knew racing car production and research led to the invention of so much other stuff" Jack noted as they admired the Formula One McLaren in front of them.
"Yeah, you must be grateful" Sam commented.
"How so, Major?" Jack looked genuinely confused.
"Oh, sorry, I thought you'd read this bit" Sam pointed to a panel.
"You're assuming I've read anything since we walked in...?"
Sam couldn't tell if he was being serious or not, but she really hoped he was enjoying himself, even if he didn't take anything in. She read the panel again out loud,
" As high-speed collisions can prove deadly, F1™ cockpits undergo 15 types of impact test before being passed ‘race fit’.
This same attention to saving lives has now been applied to the ambulance service. Until now, transporting seriously ill patients to and from hospital was hazardous because of the weight of traditional metal incubators.
The Pod is a new F1™-inspired solution to the problem. The patient is placed in a self-contained structure similar in design to the driver’s cockpit"
"I don't get the reference" Jack admitted.
"I guess you were pretty out of it at the time, but it's the same pod we used to transport you with the Tok'ra after you contracted that disease in Antarctica"
"Oh..." Was all Jack could say.
Sam knew it was still a subject he tried to avoid due to the torture he suffered at the hands of Ba'al following his blending with the Tok'ra symbiote, so refrained for pushing the conversation further and moved along the exhibit. She glanced up at Jack to find him staring at the pod on display. Walking up to him Sam placed her hand at the top of his arm, "Sir? Are you okay?"
"Yeah Carter, just peachy"
They stood in silence for moment until Sam cleared her throat.
"Oh, sorry" he mumbled. "Do you ever get those moments when you realise how lucky you are to be standing here?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, sometimes. I try to avoid them"
"Yeah, me too" he quietly agreed stepping along to the next exhibition piece.
***
"Seriously Carter? Computing?"
"Just look at it as an amusing trip to see how dated this stuff is"
"Seriously Carter? Computing?" He repeated.
Sam looked up at him and smiled "we'll be quick, I promise. We have to go through it to get to Space, and that's my favourite bit"
"I'd never have guessed!" Jack teased.
Sam started to read the information in front of her about the 1956 Ferranti Pegasus, the world's oldest working computer, when she felt Jack start to fidget beside her. She glanced at him staring at the ceiling and rocking on the balls of his feet. "Okay, we'll move on... But this *is* interesting. You see that cupboard thing there?"
"Like I could miss it, it's bigger than my wardrobe" Jack quipped.
"Well, that is -essentially- the equivalent of the transformer pack on the cable for your laptop" Sam explained.
Jack watched her eyes light up as she started to reel off information regarding the object in front of her until he realised that he hadn't been listening.
"-and these cards with the holes? That's how they input data and programmed -"
Jack decided it was time to employ his usual tactic when he had stopped listening to her technobabble; he held up his index finger, "Ach! Carter..."
"Sorry, Sir... Let's go" she apologised leading them towards the Space exhibition.
***
Jack grinned at the look on Sam's face as she literally bounced into the room and chuckled when she couldn't pick where to look first.
Sam stopped and placed her hands on her hips, "Are you laughing at me... Sir?"
"No, not laughing... I would never..." he stuttered through his smile.
She moved over to a wall display answering questions on life in the galaxy, Jack followed and they shared a smile.
"7 months to Mars? Haven't we done it less than 7 minutes before?" Jack asked.
Sam looked wide eyed at him and elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ow, what did you do that for?"
Sam lifted her chin tilted her head in the direction of a small boy who was staring up at Jack, his mouth wide.
Jack looked down and gave the boy a lopsided smile. "I think we should move on" he muttered to Sam under his breath.
Sam nodded quickly, "Good idea, Sir". She had barely walked a few paces before she was engrossed by something else on display.
"Carter... It's a spacesuit. I've been in loads, you must've been in more than me. Surely, it's not that exciting"
"There's just something about it that... Inspires me. I guess it's the iconic image that I will always associate with going into space, no matter where in the universe I go"
Jack loved her enthusiasm; the way that objects that had almost become everyday items to them still made her light up. She had been right. This museum trip of hers had been fun, but that didn't stop it being a bad idea. He suddenly felt awkward for feeling this way about his 2IC, and not for the first time.
***
They made their way towards the back of the exhibition, nearing the exit, walking past groups of children clustered around the interactive tables demonstrating viscosity, echoes and other everyday physics.
Sam looked up at Jack and caught the sadness in his eyes. He had his hands jammed into his pockets and Sam linked her arm with his, "Are you okay?"
The emotion in her question moved him and served to jolt him back to the present and away from the thoughts of his son. He looked down and smiled, "Yeah, I'm okay". He unlinked his arm from hers, draped it around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug to enforce his statement.
Sam backed away with a smile, caught his arm with her hand and dragged him over to some building blocks.
Jack raised his eyebrows about to question her intentions, when she picked up the blocks and started to arrange them.
"Uh... Carter? What are you doing?"
"I'm building a bridge" she replied as if the answer was obvious. "I could do with some help, Sir"
Jack watched her move the five curved pieces for a moment before stepping up to aid her. When complete, they stepped back to admire their newly formed arch bridge.
"Carter, I think you're in the wrong profession... Dry stone walling was clearly your calling in life" Jack teased.
Sam beamed at him and stepped up to one end of their newly formed construction.
"You're going to walk over it?" He asked, incredulous.
"Of course" she responded.
"Want me to catch you if you fall?" Jack offered.
"No, Sir. You see even without cement the weight of the load, is transferred - woahhh..." Sam dropped the two feet to the floor as the arch collapsed beneath her.
Jack instinctively threw his arm out to break her fall, and he caught her around the waist.
"Thank you, Sir" she blushed, but looked up and smiled at him. They both became awkward when they realised that Jack hadn't released his grip around her stomach.
"Uh, that shouldn't have happened... Bad craftsmanship" Sam joked, trying to ease the tension, but it wasn't enough to break the moment. Jack slipped his arm tighter around her waist, drawing her closer to his body. Her breath hitched and she found her hands moving up to his shoulders to embrace him in return. Several moments passed before Sam cleared her throat and they broke eye contact.
"Uh, Sir...?"
Jack let his arm drop and took a small step back from her.
"I'm sorry, Carter"
"Don't be. I'm not"
They stood uncomfortably for a moment or two, until Jack broke the silence. "We should, uh... Probably get back..."
"Yeah, we should" she agreed, turning to lead them towards the exit.
***
The drive back to hers was a fairly silent affair, but when they arrived at her house Sam was reluctant to get out of the car.
"I wanted to thank you for today, Sir. Even if you didn't, I had a lot of fun"
Jack leant closer to her and lowered his voice. "Don't tell anyone" he whispered, "but I had fun, too". He gave her a small lopsided smile.
Sam felt her heart soar. She had begun to feel guilty for dragging to such a family oriented attraction after he had admitted earlier in Daniel's office that he had wanted to be alone, so she was relieved that the experience hadn't been too painstaking for him.
"Thank you" she said again and leaned closer to give him a small kiss on the cheek before getting out of his car.
As she watched him drive away, Sam smiled sadly knowing that even though those moments between them were fleeting, they were becoming increasingly more frequent.
But they were becoming the moments that got her through each day.
Story Notes: I didn't write this with a particular season in mind, but since Daniel's present and there's a lack of Pete, but small spoilers for Abyss and Frozen, I would say beginning to middle of season seven.
Spoilers: Abyss and Frozen
A/N: Ok, I have a ton of notes for this fic! I went to the Science Museum in London yesterday (if you've never been and get a chance I totally recommend it!) and was inspired to write this. Everywhere I went something else jumped out at me for this fic. So, obviously, the museum referred to in here isn't in Colorado Springs, but this is fiction, so (hopefully!) we can all glaze over that.
Also, I should thank the Science Museum, South Kensington, London, for the amazing day I had and the information I shamelessly stole and altered to fit in this piece. No copyright infringement was intended at all! I'm just passing on all the amazing information I learnt yesterday!
Oh, and it's not beta-d. Any mistakes are well and truly my own! I have recently got massively into the fic writing, so feedback would be gratefully accepted! Thanks guys!
Enjoy! :o)
Spoilers: Abyss and Frozen
A/N: Ok, I have a ton of notes for this fic! I went to the Science Museum in London yesterday (if you've never been and get a chance I totally recommend it!) and was inspired to write this. Everywhere I went something else jumped out at me for this fic. So, obviously, the museum referred to in here isn't in Colorado Springs, but this is fiction, so (hopefully!) we can all glaze over that.
Also, I should thank the Science Museum, South Kensington, London, for the amazing day I had and the information I shamelessly stole and altered to fit in this piece. No copyright infringement was intended at all! I'm just passing on all the amazing information I learnt yesterday!
Oh, and it's not beta-d. Any mistakes are well and truly my own! I have recently got massively into the fic writing, so feedback would be gratefully accepted! Thanks guys!
Enjoy! :o)
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters, settings, etc, are the property of their respective owners. Any original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended. ... [ read more ]