[Moments of Adoration]

For Cal.

He knew how it felt.

Damn the Tok'ra. Damn their tests. Damn his good intentions.

And damn Major Samantha Carter.

"Colonel?"

Startled, he stood only to have his feet slip out from under him. Flailing wildly, he tried to regain his balance even as Sam grabbed him under the arms to haul him upright.

The end result found them both on the ground and covered in mud.

"God damn it, Carter! Can't you leave well enough alone?" His anger was sudden, irrational, and had nothing to do with what had just happened.

She knew it, too. Her eyes went wide, cheeks paling and then flushing in turn. "So sorry, sir! Next time I won't bother!"

As she glared at him, a dollop of mud slid down her nose.

Without thinking he reached out to wipe it away.

And froze.

Jack only remembered those horrible minutes at the force field as random images, snapshots of wide eyes, pale skin, lips moving, a hand reaching...

His anger fled. "Carter, I..."

"Ahem."

Jack looked up to see Teal'c and Daniel standing a few feet away, one launching an eyebrow skyward, the other rubbing the bridge of his nose and shaking his head.

"Well, this is a Kodak moment."

Ignoring Daniel's poor attempts to conceal his amusement, Jack looked at Sam, who gave him a small shrug and an even smaller smile.

But she did smile.

Ignoring the unspoken boundaries they'd started to lay down over the last few weeks, Jack scraped the mud from her nose and wiped it on the one clean patch of his sleeve. Her smile brightened.

That was a much better picture to have in his head.