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�Yeah, that much is obvious,� John said with a soft smile.
Sam frowned. �What�s that supposed to mean?�
�You�re babbling, Samantha. You only do that when you�re either so exhausted that you can�t see straight or when you are so thrown by something that you�re completely out of your depth. Since you don�t look like the living dead�which you tend to when you�ve reached that state of exhaustion where your eyes start crossing�I�m going to say it�s the latter,� John said. �And Elizabeth doesn�t hold grudges. You�re right. She�s a good person. Just be straight with her, say your piece, try not to babble too much, and, above all else, be completely honest. Honesty is a big thing for her.�
�Okay. Thanks,� she said. Sam looked around, arching an eyebrow at the boxes of files that took up most of the free space in his tiny quarters. �So, uh, what�s going on here? Are quarters on Atlantis so small that you felt the overwhelming desire to fill all the extra five square feet in here with stuff so you�d feel more at home?�
�No. my room on Atlantis is� nice. Right on the water�though, really, everything is right on the water, so that�s not much of a claim, there. Big windows, nice balcony, great view of the sunrise. About three times the size of this dank little cell,� John said.
Smiling softly, Sam nodded. �We turned the tiny dorms from when this facility was a missile silo into guest quarters when we first started out. Believe me, this is a major improvement from the metal-frame bunk beds that used to be in here.� She looked at the boxes again. �Mission files?� she inquired.
�Yeah. I�m, uh, familiarizing myself with SGC protocols. Since, you know, I was sorta added to the guest list at the last second,� he explained. He shrugged. �Elizabeth�s tried to drill it all into my head, but� not so successful.�
Sam shook her head. �Seriously, John, it took us a long time to get protocols and rules in place that were, quite literally, universal. There is a reason that they exist.�
�Hey, it�s not like I planned on being military commander of the expedition,� John protested. �Colonel Sumner was supposed to take care of rules and stuff. My job description was� well, fairly undefined, but it�s not like there was a great span of time between Elizabeth offering me the job and the first time I actually stepped through the �Gate. Speaking of which, why didn�t I see you when I was here back then?�
�SG-1 was on stand-down while Daniel was in Antarctica so Teal�c went to spend some time with his son and I was on the Alpha Site with my dad, working on some experiments,� Sam said.
�Ah,� John nodded. He frowned. �Your dad knows about the program?�
Sam glanced at the file that John was reading. �You�ll get to that mission soon enough.�
�Give me the Readers Digest version,� John said.
�Dad was sick�cancer. We met a race of aliens that� it�s kinda hard to explain, but they�the Tok�ra�evolved from the Goa�uld thousands of years ago. They�re the good guys, really. Dad became a Tok�ra. He� he was host to Selmac, one of the oldest and wisest of all the Tok�ra.�
John frowned. �Was?� he echoed gently. Sam nodded. �What happened?�