A/N: This has been written for Valenship 2011 and is a sequel to my other fic 'Scrap Metal' - probably won't make much sense unless you read that first :) Many thanks to Lilac for her fab advice, beta and insane DM knowledge which inspired the title!
Sam tightened the screw a few more times, before pulling back and standing up. "Okay, try it now." She looked up at Jack, the remote control pad firmly in his hands and watched as he gave her a boyish grin. She'd been seeing that grin more and more lately and found herself staring just a little too much. Not that he seemed to mind. He always simply stared right back.
She blushed slightly and took a step backwards from the machine at her feet. It lurched a little, as Jack seemed to remember his instruction, before it was suddenly racing around the room much faster than it had before. They shared another smile – this one more triumphant – before their gazes both fell on the robot at their feet.
"Wanna time it again?" Jack asked, his head cocked slightly to one side.
Sam nodded, "Sure." And she dug into the pocket for the stop watch.
"It kinda looks like a mouse, don't ya think?" Jack asked, sometime later when they were attempting to put it back in the large box they'd carried it in. Sam merely frowned, glancing down at the saws and spikes attached to its circular framework. "Danger mouse?" Jack asked hopefully, seeing the look on her face. A smile worked its way onto her lips without her permission and she playfully rolled her eyes at him, eliciting that smile on his face that she loved so much.
Opening the door to the observation room, Sam gestured Jack through it as he pulled the trolley with the robot out into the corridor.
"Oh hey!"
Sam and Jack stopped dead in their tracks, staring at Daniel with equally shocked expressions.
"Who invited Penfold?" Jack whispered as he leaned into her side. Sam hid a smile, trying to ignore the warm breath on her neck, or the heat from his body, that lately had began to do all kinds of weird things to her insides. Oh who was she kidding – he had always had that effect on her insides.
"Daniel!" She cried, a little too loudly. Clearing her throat, she attempted to throw him a smile. "What are you doing here?"
Daniel shrugged nonchalantly, "I, er, got some lectures coming up at the university – just stopped by to get some books..." He glanced from one former team mate to the other, then down at the large box that sat on the trolley. "What are you guys doing? What's in the box?"
"Nothing!" They both replied simultaneously, glancing at each other in surprise, then back at Daniel with forced smiles again.
The man in question merely rose his eyebrows in disbelief. "You know," He said, his shoulders sagging slightly, and his words carrying a small sigh, "You don't have to pretend..."
"Pretend?" Jack asked, eyebrow's mimicking Daniel's.
"About what?" Sam asked, teeth worrying her bottom lip.
Daniel gestured at the box. "About what you're doing..."
Sam eased her body away from Jack's slightly.
"Clearing out some stuff from your lab," Daniel continued innocently. "I mean, I've started sorting through some of my things..."
"You have?" Sam asked, somewhat surprised. She hadn't even began to think about how she was going to get started on organising everything in her laboratory let alone box anything up yet. Yes, she'd made a start on her garage at home, but then she'd found parts of the robot that currently sat near her feet. And besides, they were still technically on holiday. And Jack had kept taking her out to dinner, and ice skating, and bringing her Battlebots DVDs so they could brush up on their fighting skills.
"Sure," Daniel nodded his head. "Anyway," he gestured somewhere behind him, somehow sensing her confusion and reluctance, but not wanting to delve any further while Jack was standing mere inches away.
They murmured their goodbyes, and just as she saw Daniel's back retreating into the elevator at the end of the hall, Jack leaned into her side again. "Let's get out of here, " He uttered, "Before we suddenly bump into Colonel K, too..."
Sam pulled back slightly, his close proximity making her brain temporarily go fuzzy. "Colonel Kline?"
She watched a frown knit itself upon his forehead. "No, Colonel-" He paused mid sentence, glanced at her perfectly blank face for a moment, and tried to wait her out. "You almost had me," He added with a smile, his finger wagging at her chest.
The smile crept upon her lips, meeting her eyes before turning into a grin. "I don't know what you mean, General..." She replied, her voice the sound of pitch perfect innocence and yet still managing to convey some sort of leer in his direction. She loved that she could do that now.
"You know," Jack said, as they made their own way down the corridor towards the elevator. "I have half a mind-"
"Well that explains a lot-" The words slipped out before she could even sensor them. Her mouth agape in horror, and yet simultaneously twitching as it begged to break into a grin. Jack's expression told her he was equally amused and astounded, and they stood there in front of the closed doors, daring the other to break.
"General, Colonel," A male voice echoed behind them and they both turned to see Colonel Kline as he nodded his head towards them. Nodding silently in response, they watched the man disappear down the corridor before turning back to the elevator as it pinged, announcing its arrival.
"Carter..." Jack warned, as they stepped inside.
Sam was biting her lip, the grin clearly winning over its horrified rival. "What?" She asked, innocently. "I wasn't going to say anything..."
He raised an eyebrow as if to punctuate his previous warning, but all Sam could think of, as she stared at the expression on his face, was how she wished they were off base right now so that she could clearly kiss him senseless.
-0-
"Hey," Daniel called as he traipsed into Sam's lab. "Teal'c said you were floating around today..."
"Yeah," Sam nodded. "Just picking up some equipment," She motioned to the small box on her desk as she threw in another tool.
Daniel's eyes followed her movement for a while, before gesturing with some magazines in his hands. "Found these in my lab – thought you might want them back."
Sam briefly glanced at the scientific journals before offering him a smile. "Thanks."
"So..." He placed them on her desk before inching closer. "How are things going with you and Jack?"
Sam frowned at the object she was studying before adding it to the pile of other items and tried to cover up her sudden pause. "Good," She stated.
"Good?" Daniel parroted back.
"Yeah," she nodded. "I think that about sums it up..."
"So that's all you're going to say?" He shoved his hands into his pockets as he circled her desk.
"To be honest, I'm trying not to analyse it all too much, so yeah," She looked up at him and smiled, "That's all I'm going to say."
Daniel pursed his lips slightly, a frown soon following. "So you and him hanging around on base together in your civvies...?"
Sam mimicked his frown, not knowing what he was getting at. "What part of 'I'm trying not to analyse this too much' didn't you understand, Daniel?"
Her friend merely laughed. "Whoa, you're sounding like him more and more each day..."
She rolled her eyes for good effect. "Like the way everyone now raises their eyebrows a lot more than they used to? Throwing in the odd 'indeed' every so often for extra effect?"
Her eyes met his in a challenge, but Daniel couldn't stop himself from smirking. Even if it was funny when she mimicked Teal'c's voice whenever she said that word.
"Point taken," He said, as her eyes softened and her lips offered him a smile. "So what are these all for anyway?" Daniel asked, motioning to the box of tools with his head. "Don't they belong to the SGC?"
Sam smiled, lips closed and offering no teeth. "Just borrowing them..." She said innocently.
"For what?" Daniel pushed his glassed back up his nose.
"My bike," Sam shrugged before picking up the box and heading towards the door.
"You want to grab some dinner later?" Daniel called as he turned out the lights and rushed up behind her in the corridor.
Sam tried not to grimace as the threat of another lie loomed over her head. "Friday?" She asked instead.
"Friday," Daniel agreed. And Sam found herself feeling immensely grateful for his silence for once.
-0-
"I feel bad," She said, her voice appearing soft and quiet in their harsh surroundings. She could feel Jack's body leaning up against her back, both leaning against the mesh barrier, clinging on with their fingers hooked into the wire as they peered down into the arena. "Lying to Daniel," She explained, turning her head slightly to face his. Jack offered her a look of understanding, his head nodding softly. "But then..."
Jack raised his eyebrows, "But what?" He inquired, as her top teeth came down to bite her bottom lip.
"I enjoy sharing this with you..." She offered him a small smile. "Just you..."
His hands dropped from the wire mesh to land on her waist, squeezing her slightly, before pulling her back into him and planting a kiss on the side of her temple. "Ditto," He murmured, giving her another quick squeeze before pulling back slightly.
A shiver ran down her spine as he offered Sam her new favourite smile.
"Verminator versus Danger Mouse, next up!" A loud voice boomed, breaking their temporary cocooned world.
"You know," Sam added, her voice still barely above a whisper, her body not yet moving. "I never thought I'd be able to share my whole mechanic... geekiness... with you..." Only Jack O'Neill could replace her varied vocabulary with a lesser, more obscure one.
The smirk on his lips told her that he'd noticed it too. "Honestly, neither did I..."
"And I can't believe I agreed with you on the name, by the way," she added, the atmosphere immediately changing from serious to amusing in a matter of seconds. He giggled into her ear and it sent another wave of tingles down to her toes, just like he knew it would. That she could actually make Jack giggle was just one of the things that Sam had delighted in discovering since they had begun their new relationship. Unlike the way he chuckled, his giggles were often higher pitched and were triggered almost instantly at any particular moment. They weren't frequent but they had occurred often enough now for Sam to notice the difference. Part of her wondered if it was a sign that he had grown more comfortable with her, with them, but then, as she'd told Daniel, she was seriously trying not to analyse it all too much.
"C'mon," Jack squeezed her waist again, before pulling back. "Let's go fight some robots!"
"You know that technically, we've already done that, right?" She called after him, her hand lacing with his as he led her downstairs towards the arena.
The grin he threw her almost took her breath away. "Which is why we're going to win, right?"
"Yeah sure you betcha!"