"I can't believe Hammond has us doing this....assignment instead going to PHB....whatever!" O'Neill groused loudly, leaning heavily on the mop handle. "Aren't there janitors who get paid to do this sorta thing?"

Carter paused long enough to blow a strand of sweat soaked hair from her eyes. "With all due respect, sir there is no one to blame except-"

"Daniel!"

The archaeologist in question jerked his head in their direction. "There is no way in hell this is my fault!" His tone was stubbornly adament.

"Oh Pleeease!"

"I concur, O'Neill." Teal'c looked up from the corner where he knelt, scrubbing at a stained mess on the floor. "Daniel Jackson is not to blame for our present circumstances."

"Thank you Teal'c." Daniel smiled smuggly at the Jaffa's declaration.

"You are welcome Daniel Jackson."

Jack stared at the younger man, rocking back on his heels. "Then just who do you consider to be at fault?"

"You!" His three teammate's voices rang out simultaneously.

"Me?" Jack gazed at his team, the very picture of innocence. "And just how did you reach that conclusion?"

"In a way, Jack, you did cast the first stone, so to speak. Or in this case, meatball" Deciding the water could wait another thirty seconds, to be emptied, Daniel lowered the bucket back to the floor, stretched the kinks from his back and picked a stray strand of spaghetti from his hair.

Jack waved a finger in the air between them. "Don't even go there Jackson. You made that crack about acting childish!"

"So of course you just had to prove him right.?" Carter wiped her hands on her filthy fatigues, a expression of utter disgust on her face. "I should be testing that new-"

"No, Carter, we should be off world!" O'Neill stated matter of factly. "We should be sleeping under the stars, visiting with the natives and checking out the local offworld sights but noooooo....We're stuck here because Daniel just had to-" He snatched the perfectly aimed damp cloth from the air just before it struck him in the face.

"Don't you even start with that!" Daniel warned.

O'Neill smiled blithely, "Can't handle the truth eh Danny?"

"The truth is Jack, you are the only one responsible. I'm not about to take the blame for this...." Daniel's gaze moved over the numerous unidentifible stains which graced the walls, tables and floor, "mess."

Jack's smile was smug as he attempted to distract the scientist with his words, "Well it is called a mess hall..."

"Oooohh....cute Jack." Daniel grimaced.

"Daniel!" Sam's warning call was a second to late as Jack tossed the, now, sopping wet cloth, smacking the scientist squarely in the back of his head with a resounding 'thwuap'. "Sir!" Carter looked from one to the other, not sure who to focus on.

Jackson's eyes lit with blue fire. "Oh you are soooo dead, O'Neill!" Daniel bent to pick up the water bucket, before slowly advancing on the colonel.

Jack back pedaled. "You really don't want to do that Daniel." Unable to keep the grin from his face, the colonel slowly sidled toward the cafeteria door as the linguist approached, the bucket of disgusting water in his grasp, tilted precariously, ready to be tossed. "I'm telling you...you don't want to do this!"

Daniel paused, as if considering his actions, then, with a wicked grin, continued to advance on the rapidly retreating soldier "Believe me...I do"

"Is there a problem gentlemen?" Jack spun around at the sound of his commander's voice behind him, stunned to see General Hammond standing in the doorway, observing them. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Daniel couldn't stop his forward momentum and braced himself as the water left the bucket in painfully slow motion.

Carter closed her eyes, stifling a loud groan as the tossed wave of water crashed over her commanding officers.

Pulling himself to stand at attention, O'Neill's shoulders shook in silent laughter, his lips tightly pressed together, his brown eyes twinkling merrily as Daniel stood motionless, eyes enormous, mouth moving soundlessly while Hammond scrubbed a hand over his face, wiping away the water and stray spaghetti strands, tuna surprise and whatever else had been wrung from the mop, running off his forehead.

"I-I-" The Egyptologist struggled for words of apology. "General....I..."

"I trust this mess will also be dealt with." With a precision about face, the general turned and marched toward his office. When he was sure he was unobserved, a smile creased his face as he pictured Jackson's horrified expression. He didn't know what O'Neill had done to arouse such a reaction in the passive archaeologist but he was quite sure the colonel was responsible and deserved what he got. It had been a hard year for SG-1, especially for Dr. Jackson and if a food fight or giving the SGC commander an unexpected shower, relieved the stress, Hammond could deal with it. He knew a very embarrassed Daniel would be stopping by to apologize as soon as possible.

"Now that was definately your fault!" Jack wheezed when his laughter subsided enough to allow him to breath again.

"I must disagree with you once again O'Neill." A grimace momentarily passed across the normally somber Jaffa's face as he scooped a glob of what appeared to be yellow jello from the floor and into the trash can.

"What!!! How was that possibly my fault! I wasn't the one who just drenched SGC's commanding officer with a bucket of mop water! And by the way," A look of indignation crossed his face. "Did any of you happen to notice, that I, Colonel Jack O'Neill, your commanding officer, team leader of SG-1, was also hit by that same bucket of water, thrown I might add by a certain civilian archaeologist."

"However O'Neill, if you had not assaulted Daniel Jackson with that dripping cloth, he would not have been tempted to-"

"Assaulted!! He threw the rag first!"

"Only because you were trying to blame this whole thing on him in the first place!" Carter intervened.

Daniel, now a safe distance on the other side of Teal'c, couldn't resist childishly sticking his tongue out at Jack as his two teammates came to his defense.

"It is his fault!" Jack reiterated stubbornly, never one to concede defeat easily and honestly enjoying every minute of the exchange.

"How?! How, Jack? Explain to me how this is my fault!" The three teammates stared wide eyed as the linguist damn near jumped up and down in place, his hands flying about expressively. "I didn't hit Ferretti in the back of the head with a meatball causing him and his whole damn team to retaliate with whatever happened to be on their plates at the time! So tell me exactly how this is my fault! What did I do to make this....this fiasco my fault?!!"

A wide smile creased O'Neill's face as he picked up his mop. "You finally learned to duck."