Title: Semi-inappropriate
Author: Nicky Chevalier
Feedback: Would make my day.
[email protected]
Rating: PG-15

Summary:
"Cheek to cheek, the lights are low,
A kiss beneath the mistletoe,
your face lit by the fire's glow;
that's all I want tonight."
--'All I Want Is You This Christmas'

Content Warnings: Adult situations
Category: S/J, PWP, Christmas challenge response.
Status: Complete
Archive: Anywhere, just let me know.
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: Still don't own 'em.

Author's Notes: My response to the 2003 Christmas challenge,
involving:

* Christmas off world.
* Sam & Jack holding hands.
* Lyrics to a Christmas song in the summary.

No plot to be found here ... actually this whole fic was just an
excuse to have Sam and Jack make out for a few minutes. <eg> Is that
so wrong?

It's my first story in a while; hope I'm not too rusty. :)

**********

Jack scowled. "I swear to God, when we get back to Earth, I'm gonna
kick Hammond's ass from there to Abydos. Who's with me?" Jack threw
another splinter of wood into the fire and looked expectantly around
at his team.

Teal'c raised a trademark eyebrow. "I do not celebrate Christmas, so
I have no reason to be angry with General Hammond." With that, he lay
down on his sleeping bag and promptly went to sleep.

The Colonel rolled his eyes-- he could never understand how Teal'c
did that-- and looked over at Daniel, who shrugged. "It's not
Hammond's fault we're stuck here. Besides, I had nothing better to
do. And it is kinda nice here," he reasoned.

"That's not the *point*, Daniel," Jack quit throwing small twigs into
the fire and threw a few at the linguist instead. "It's the
*principle* of the thing."

"Sorry Jack." Daniel served him a mock sympathetic look and threw the
miniature projectiles back at him. "You'll just have to take the
General on on your own."

Oh, great, Jack thought derisively. So he was stuck on some long-
deserted planet on Christmas Eve with a mutinous team who were
actually *mocking* him. Putting on his best glower, he looked to
where his 2IC was sitting cross-legged, a notepad in her lap and a
pensive look on her face. If anyone would back him up, she
would. "Carter?"

She looked up, shaking her head and stifling a grin. "Sorry, Sir. I'd
like to help you, but I value my career too much to beat up a direct
superior officer."

He snorted, serving her an amused look. "That's actually quite
comforting to know, Major." He heard her snicker quietly as she went
back to whatever inhumanly complex equations she was working on to
fix the gate, and he gave himself a mental pat on the back-- he was
always unexplainably proud when he made Carter laugh.

"Well," Daniel unrolled his sleeping bag and climbed inside,
pillowing his head on his arms, "you have fun plotting your revenge,
Jack. I'm going to get some sleep. 'Night Sam."

"G'night," she answered absently, not even pausing from her writing.
How she kept up with both the conversation and her calculations at
the same time was beyond Jack. But that was Carter for you. He picked
himself up and walked the few paces to plonk himself down next to
her, so he could read over her shoulder.

His brow furrowed almost immediately. "That's supposed to be english,
right?"

"Yes, Sir." She still didn't pause from her note taking, but he saw
the corners of her mouth turn up in a smile. Wow, he was on a roll
tonight.

Nevertheless, it was Christmas Eve--in fact, a quick glance at his
watch told him that in less than two minutes it would officially be
Christmas--and she had yet to quit working for more than 5 minutes at
a stretch. If he could just get her to take a break, he'd be *really*
impressed with himself. Not that she'd be very receptive to the idea,
of course.

Still, Jack always did like a challenge. He put on his best, most
stern Colonel's voice. "Probably time for a break, Carter."

She shook her head distractedly. "I'm fine Sir, I'll--"

"Carter."

Sam fought the exasperated sigh that threatened to escape and tried
not to roll her eyes. His tone held that stubborn note that told her
she wasn't going to win the argument. But, she thought, it couldn't
hurt to try. Respectfully, of course. "Really, Sir, I don't need--"

Determined now, and uncharacteristically cheerful considering their
situation, he reached out and plucked the pen easily from her hand,
holding it up out of her reach as she made a grab for it.

"Hey!" She lunged for it again, and then, suddenly catching sight of
the grin on his face and recognizing the playful-- and decidedly
unprofessional-- territory they were heading into, she stopped
abruptly and sat back down. Oops.

Hiding and simultaneously ignoring his disappointment, he slipped the
pen into his pocket and lay down on his back, enternaining himself by
idly trying to make new constellations from the unfamiliar stars. So
far he had a television set, a hockey stick, and a huge letter 'S'.

"So," he spoke to fill the silence, "what were you planning to do
tomorrow?" He glanced at his watch again and corrected
himself: "today, actually. Merry Christmas, Carter."

"Merry Christmas, Colonel" she echoed softly. "I wasn't planning to
do anything, actually. Mark and the kids are celebrating with his
wife's family this year." She didn't add that Jacob couldn't make it--
Jack already knew about the "very important mission" he was on, and
she was still pretending not to be upset.

He nodded, wondering if, like him, she had actually planned to spend
Christmas working. He'd figured a pile of completed, long overdue
paperwork would have made a good Christmas present for Hammond. Until
the General had insisted on one more 'quick, routine mission' before
their downtime and they'd ended up stuck in this place. Now, Jack had
a good mind to make him wait until next Christmas for his paperwork.

The silence seemed to drag on, and it was minutes before she
asked, "What about you?"

"What?"

"What were you planning to do?"

"Oh. Nothing, actually. I didn't have plans either."

She just smiled ruefully, and he found himself studying her profile
as he drifted off to sleep.



It was 1am when he was jolted awake by something moving over his hip.
Without thinking, he reached down to grab the hand snaking into his
pocket, instinctively giving it a sharp tug to topple his assailant
forward while he rolled over to pin him to the ground.

Only, the him was a her. "Carter!"

"Sorry Sir!" She squeaked, breathless from the sudden assault. "I
couldn't sleep and you have my only pen," she explained. She looked
imploringly up at him, probably wondering why he was still laying on
her, but he made no effort to move.

"So you thought you'd scare the crap out of me trying to get it?!"

She shrugged, as much as she could with him on top of her, pinning
her hands to the ground with his, and served him a look. The man was
clearly still half-asleep, or he'd have been off of her in a
heartbeat. She raised an eyebrow. "Something like that, Sir, yes. Are
you gonna move?"

"Oh," he seemed to snap out of a daze. "Right." But he still didn't
move. And he was staring at her. And those sleep-hooded eyes were
suddenly making her decidedly nervous.

"Sir?" She had to fight the urge to add 'have you lost your mind?'.

Actually, he was thinking the same thing himself, but... it was
Christmas, and here they were, basically alone, her warm breath on
his face, her hands held in his, and she just looked so damned
good... when was he going to have another opportunity like this?

He glanced at the sky above him and raised a questioning
eyebrow. "Don't you think that constellation looks like mistletoe...?"

She stared. "It would be completely inappropriate..."

The corners of his mouth turned up in that maddening little
irreverent smirk that made her insides squirm. "It's Christmas.
There's mistletoe. That makes it only semi-inappropriate."

Sam shook her head at his warped sense of logic. "Sir, I really don't
think--"

"That's your problem Carter, you think too much. It's the holidays
for cryin' out loud. Back on Earth, there are, like, a million office
parties going on right now with co-workers doing inappropriate
things all over the place."

"That's different. They're not military."

"Are you kidding? At that Base Christmas thing last year Captain
Johannsen was caught *twice* in Major Callahan's bathroom kissing
Lieutenant Colonel Thomas, and Major Downing was so drunk he tried to
make out with Captain Donolly."

Surprised, Sam momentarily forgot her situation, wondering how her CO
was so knowledgeable on the subject of base gossip. "Tried?"

He nodded, grinning. "He passed out before anything happened."

She blinked, suddenly sure she was dreaming. This was just too
surreal. Her CO was sprawled comfortably on top of her, holding her
hands while he discussed the inner workings of the SGC's multitude of
complex "semi-inappropriate" relationships in an attempt to explain
why making out with him right now would be okay. This was just too
weird to be real.

He could almost see her mind ticking over. And she hadn't punched him
yet, which was encouraging; her inbuilt reluctance to beat up a
superior officer was obviously working in his favour. "Carter, all
I'm saying is, I think that there are some occasions where people can
be forgiven for bending the rules a little. 'Stuck on a deserted
planet light-years from Earth on Christmas Eve with no immediate way
home' should be one of those."

"Sir..." her voice held a warning note; she was clearly about to
start throwing objections at him. "...it's not Christmas Eve anymore."

He blinked. Then stared. Then gaped. Then grinned. "*That's* your big
objection?!"

Now she was looking a little panicked. "Well, no. I had others. I
*have* others..."

She gave up, her complete lack of conviction in trying to diffuse the
situation speaking volumes. She was giving in way too easily, and she
knew it, but... well, it was Christmas, they were alone, stuck, and
truth be told, in real danger of starving to death if she couldn't
get the gate fixed. Plus, Jack O'Neill was on top of her, his face
mere inches from hers, pinning her hands loosely to the ground,
and... she was only human. The fate of the universe was not going to
unravel over one kiss.

Still, she stopped him millimetres before his mouth reached
hers. "Just this once, right?" She thought she'd better clarify
things, just to be sure they were on the same page.

"Sure," he breathed, his lips just short of brushing hers when he
spoke. "...although New Years is--"

She stopped him with a look, and felt his accepting grin rather than
saw it. And then his mouth swept over hers, so lightly their lips
barely touched, teasing her. She sighed softly, moving to repeat the
gesture, firmer this time, enough to learn his texture but not his
taste.

His hands tightened momentarily around hers and then he let go,
taking his weight on one arm while the other slid into her hair to
pull her mouth forcefully against his, groaning as her lips parted
almost immediately to allow entry to his questing tongue. She
whimpered, the moist heat of his tongue sending a shudder through her
as it played over her own, gliding over lips and teeth, learning his
way around her mouth.

He tasted like nothing she'd ever imagined. Her hands, free now,
snaked into his hair and trailed down his back, her fingernails
scraping lightly over his spine. His hands clenched in her hair and
she moaned her encouragement as the kiss turned fiery, mouths meshing
fiercely as they clung to each other, frantically trying to work
through years of tension in one long, feverishly intense kiss.

His lips and tongue plundered her own, the pressure bruising, needy;
as though he was trying to claim her, to mark her, to stamp her in a
possessive way as his-- to brand them both as belonging to each
other. Time stood still and all rational thought fled as they moved
their lips over and against each other's; he was, literally, kissing
her senseless.

Several long minutes passed before he pulled away without warning,
groaning harshly as he rolled onto his side next to her, his
breathing as laboured as hers. He didn't explain his abrupt recoil;
both knew the reasons it had to end here. They'd reached that point
of no return, the intangible instant where if they didn't stop now
they never would.

They lay gasping for breath as the silence drew out, both waiting for
the almost unbearable temptation to continue the mutual seduction to
pass.

"Sir?" She finally broke the silence. He wondered if she felt as
weird calling him that now as he did hearing it.

"Yeah Carter?" He didn't trust himself to look at her yet, so he
missed her smile.

"How long 'til New Year?"

**********
End. Happy Holidays everyone!!
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