[Moments of Adoration]

My take on the "Sam and Jack are forced to share a bed" fic cliché. *smooches to Michelle for the beta.

He'd tried waking her, but the only response he'd gotten was a slurred "G'way" and a knee planted in his thigh. Apparently her combat reflexes went on vacation when she did.

He really should have guessed something was up when the motel clerk told them there were only two single rooms left, and Daniel immediately jumped in and said, "I'll sleep with Teal'c."

"Indeed."

Carter had just shrugged and grabbed her bag and claimed dibs on the shower, while Daniel made every effort to avoid eye contact with Jack as he finished signing them in and got change for the snack machine.

And Teal'c had just raised a brow and asked for an extra ice bucket.

He should have demanded an explanation, or insisted on finding another motel, but it was after midnight and they'd been on the road all day and were in the middle of nowhere because Dr. Daniel "I'm still a little messed in the head from being all angsty and ascended and really want to spend some quality time with you guys" Jackson had been sure the campsite was somewhere close by.

Rolling over, Jack stared at the ratty couch by the window, wondering if it might be more comfortable than Carter kicking him in the kidneys. Which she had done twice now. The clocked blinked 3:02 am, and he groaned and grabbed the TV remote. At least he didn't have to worry about the sound waking her up.

Jack struggled out of a dream about Anubis-headed Jaffa with giant slobbering, dripping tongues chasing him through an endlessly looping SGC infirmary, where General Hammond and Kinsey played patty-cake and shouted "Tally-ho!" every time he passed them.

He'd fallen asleep with the TV still on, and the soft infomercial chant of "Set it and forget it!" filled the room. The clock blinked 4:32 am and Carter was sprawled across his chest. Drooling on him. A lot.

"Gah! Ewww!" Jack heaved her off, rolling out of the bed and dragging his soaked shirt over his head, only to be momentarily blinded by the bedside lamp snapping on. Scrubbing his eyes, he saw a blinking Carter sitting up in the middle of the bed and wiping the back of her hand across her mouth.

"Sir?"

"You drooled on me, Carter!" He shook the shirt at her, grimacing when the large wet spot on the chest slapped against his forearm, and dropped it on the floor. She just kept blinking at him as he groaned and dug another shirt out of his bag.

Jack heard the bed creak and Carter mutter something about needing to pee, and decided to take advantage of the opportunity. By the time she stumbled out of the bathroom, yawning and making an even bigger mess of her sleep-tousled hair, he'd erected a barrier down the middle of the bed with the cushions from the couch.

She stopped in the middle of the room and blinked a few times more. "Colonel?"

"Just protecting myself." Ignoring her puzzled frown, he turned off the lamp, crawled into bed and yanked the covers up under his chin.

"From?"

He peered at her through the crack between two of the cushions. There was enough ambient light from the little night light in the bathroom that he saw her frown deepen. "You and your sharp elbows and bony knees."

"I have bony knees?"

"Yes. And you drool more than Cassie's dog."

"I..." But she was apparently awake enough now that protocol over-rode whatever she'd been about to retort, and instead turned a lovely shade of red and turned off the TV before climbing back into bed and turning her back on the barrier and him.

Grinning, he sighed contentedly and snuggled under the blankets. And found himself still staring at the ceiling five minutes later.

Oh crap.

Peering through the crack in the cushions again, Jack watched the slow shift of Carter's shoulders as she breathed. "Carter."

Nothing. Easing his hand through the crack, he snapped one of the straps of her tank top, and then poked her shoulder for good measure. "Carter!"

She twitched, and then she said, in the patronizing tone she usually reserved for Felger and his nerd patrol, "Yes, Colonel?"

"I can't sleep now."

"I'm sorry." It was quite obvious she wasn't, and Jack yanked away the cushion at the top of the bed so he could glare at the back of her head properly.

"It's your fault!"

"Of course, sir."

"And you kicked me! Hard!"

Jack heard her mutter something that sounded a lot like "Not hard enough," and then she was dragging one of the blankets free, wrapping herself in it as she got up. "I'm very sorry about anything irritating that I might have done while I was basically unconscious, oh, like snoring loud enough to wake someone two tents over, or yelling out hockey scores, or," and she wrinkled her nose, "eating those awful baked beans in the MREs right before going to sleep."

Whoops. Daniel still harassed him about that incident. "But I haven't done any of that tonight!"

"Right. I'll just go sleep on the couch. Sir."

Shit. Now he felt like a complete ass, which was just wrong because he was the one who'd have bruises in the morning. But he gritted his teeth and threw the rest of the cushion barrier on the floor and jabbed a finger at her side of the bed.

"Get back in the damn bed, Carter."

He held her glare until she sighed and rolled her eyes and spread the blanket down before crawling back in. And immediately turned her back on him.

He huffed and did the same, making an effort to squirm and bounce and yank on the covers as much as possible in the process. "Night, Carter."

"Good night, Colonel."

But then, a minute later, he heard her sigh again. "I really am sorry about the drool."

"S'okay, Carter." But Jack made sure to reach behind him and pull the one of the extra pillows down between them. "Sweet dreams."