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Sam came up to the surface, hoping to get some fresh air but groaned at the sight of the new commander of the base, who clearly had the same thought. She was about to turn away and go back inside the mountain when he saw her.
"Major Carter." Bauer said to her. "Don't leave on my account."
She didn't. Instead, she walked up to stand beside him and saw the cigarette in his hand.
"Been trying to give it up for years." He told her, trying to break the silence. After a few more seconds, he asked. "How did you know, Major?"
Sam crossed her arms defensively before she answered shortly. "Almost four years working with that thing, and it still defies every law of physics that we know. Whether it’s a gravitational pull from a black hole, time distortions, or even radiation pull through that wormhole, we have to think of every possible scenario, and every ‘shouldn't be possible’ scenario."
"I was informed the gate wouldn't work like that." Bauer told her.
" Your information was wrong." She said bluntly then added on for good measure. "Sir."
He chuckled and looked out on the rather uninspiring car park. "Does it not bother you? You almost destroyed this planet."
"I was following orders, sir," she said, trying her best to sound neutral but there was a heavy hint of Jack O’Neill coming through, "It would only be proof of how well my bomb had worked if it had destroyed this entire planet too." She gave him a false smile, as he looked at her amazed. "But might is right, right? At least we would have shown those Goa'uld who’s in charge." She couldn’t help but repeat his words back at him.
Bauer looked at her with so much amazement that he didn't see Jack O’Neill approach.
"Carter?" He said a little grin on his face as he joined them.
"Sir." She smiled at him fondly.
"How's it been?" He asked her.
"Oh, you know. Built a bomb, nearly blew up the SGC, and sent deadly radiation into earth's atmosphere."
A grin grew bigger on Jack's lips as he asked. "So same old?"
Sam chuckled. "Yes sir, same old."
"I thought I told you to stop blowing up stuff." Jack joked.
“I tried giving it up cold turkey but its just so much fun sir.”
Jack chuckled then looked at Bauer "She does it a bit too well."
"I noticed." Bauer almost growled.
Jack almost burst out laughing but instead turned to Carter "You see, Carter? You left quite the impression on him."
"I do try, sir." She answered back. She started to back off then asked Jack. "You coming in, sir?"
"I'll meet you down there." He told her.
"Yes sir." She said and walked away.
Bauer shook his head. "I heard you did more than think with your time off, Colonel."
"Carter is better at thinking than me, sir. I don't like to do it so much."
Bauer shook his head, confusion in his voice. "I don't understand what happened. On paper, everything I did was bang on the books."
"It was. And that was exactly your problem too." Jack told him. "Do you really think General Hammond didn't know what he was doing when he put together SG-1?" Jack asked him.
"You got him back, didn't you?" He retorted to Jack.
"Only a matter of time, sir ." Jack said confidently. "I best go back in. I have some paperwork to get started on. Get my team back together." He said with smile.
Bauer rolled his eyes. Hammond was welcome to the SGC.