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Jack whistled cheerily as he made his way through the corridors of the SGC. He could barely contain his excitement. He’d been waiting on this day for a week now. He had even gone as far as to practice what he would say.
‘Ahoy, there!’, ‘How be you?’ and ‘What you be doin’?’ were the three ice breakers he’d narrowed it down to. Each simple, yet equally effective.
Smirking, he rounded the final corner to Sam’s lab. Unfortunately, the words had left his mouth before he could stop them.
“’Ello poppet!”
He grimaced.
‘Ello poppet? Where the hell had ‘ello poppet' come from?
His grimace deepened when Carter spun on her heel and leveled an icy glare at him.
“Excuse me, Sir?”
"Uh... Oh!"
The General’s eyebrows shot up his forehead, while any response he did have for his newly-appointed Colonel was quickly forgotten as he took in the sight before him and gave Sam’s appearance a onceover.
Like him, she had changed out of her BDUs but Jack quickly decided Sam’s outfit was much more impressive. She was wearing a cream full-sleeved blouse with delicate, frilled cuffs. The blouse had a very low hemline, with the rest of the material hidden underneath a very tight-fitting bodice. The bodice itself was bright blue in color and intricately designed with lace and beads. The General idly noted that the blue also matched the color of Sam’s eyes perfectly, before noticing how the bodice helped to highlight a couple of Carter’s other assets.
Assets Jack realized he was now staring at.
“Blimey,” he muttered under his breath.
Shaking his head, he averted his gaze slightly, only to bite back a groan when he saw the rest of Carter’s outfit. The skirt she was wearing was double-layered, with the black outer skirt gathered at both sides to reveal a bright blue inner skirt. Again, the blue matched Sam’s eyes.
"Well, blow me down."
The General swallowed hard, forcing his attention back to Sam’s face but he suddenly realized he'd spoken aloud, because his former Second-in-Command looked pissed.
“Uh… nice… nice outfit, Carter,” he croaked.
“It’s hideous, Sir.”
As she turned away from him, the material of her costume swayed around her to reveal an almost thigh-high split in the skirt and Jack caught a glimpse of one long, slender leg covered up by a black leather over-the-knee boot.
With a mumbled “Oy, vey”, he cleared his throat and started tugging at the collar of his shirt in an attempt to cool down.
“Hideous? Carter, you look… Well, look at you. You look...”
Slowly, Sam turned back around. She no longer appeared annoyed, but curious.
“What?”
Her uncertainty surprised him yet, unfortunately for Jack, Samantha Carter had always affected his ability to think straight and the words had left his lips before he could stop them.
“You look incredible, Sam,” he said softly.
“Oh. I –” She shook her head and argued. “You’re just trying to stay on my good side - because this is all your fault.”
It took a few moments for her words to register and he frowned.
“What do you mean it’s my fault? What did I do?”
Sam placed her hands on her hips – an action which only helped to accentuate her curves.
“You –”
“Uh, Carter?” he cut in, waving a hand in her direction, “Just before you – uh – could you –”
She followed his gaze downwards and he saw her blush as she moved her arms to her sides.
“This,” she stressed as she gestured to her costume and then his, “was your idea.”
“Ah.” He raised his index fingers into the air, then smirked. “Not guilty this time, Carter.”
“Did you – or did you not – suggest a ‘shindig’, Sir?”
“Technically, yes, but –” he continued quickly at Sam’s expression, “my idea of a party involved myself, you, Daniel and Teal’c at O’Malleys for some food and beer before we headed back to mine – for more food and beer.”
Sam raised a brow and he felt compelled to continue.
“How was I to know that Colonel Reynolds and Daniel had already organized a party to celebrate my promotion – and yours?” he pointed out, hoping to take some of the heat off himself. “It’s rude to turn down an invitation to a party in your honor, Carter, especially when there’s cake.”
Eventually, Sam sighed and the General saw the corner of her lip turn up.
“I know, Sir. It’s not the party that’s the problem,” she admitted quietly.
“So, what is the problem?” he asked in concern, only to add an “Oh!” when Sam gave him a look and gestured to her costume.
“How was I to know the party had a theme and ‘fancy dress attire’ is a must?”
“Did it have to be a pirate-theme, Sir?”
“You’d need to take that up with Danny – or Reynolds.”
“It sounds more like something you would come up with.”
“Hey,” he drawled lightly, “I’ll take the booze, the treasure and even the beautiful woman, but even I have a limit as to fancy dress, Carter.”
She chuckled softly and Jack couldn’t help but smile.
“I just don’t want people staring.”
“It’s not like we’re going to leave you marooned out there.”
“Really?” she challenged. “How many more pirate sayings do you have up those bishop sleeves of your shirt?”
“Is that sass, Carter?”
“Are you ordering me to stop?”
“Hell no,” he smirked.
The interaction helped to break the tension and seemed to ease Sam’s uncertainty and Jack decided to set his excitement aside for a moment.
“If you don’t want to go –”
“I do,” she insisted. “I’m just not really a fancy dress person.”
“Do you think anyone on the base is?” She pulled a face and he shrugged. “Look, it’s only for a couple of hours and then we can make our excuses, but I’m not going to make you go. I do think you’ll regret not seeing Teal’c dressed up though.”
“Oh yeah?”
Jack nodded.
“Walter’s also promised to get everyone singing a chantey.”
“It sounds like it could be interesting,” she admitted.
“It’ll be fun, Carter, and god knows we deserve it after everything we’ve been through lately. So, what do you say?” he added after a beat. “Shall we weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen?”
Sam shook her head at his question, but couldn’t quite hide her smile. “Only if we can throw three sheets to the wind.”
“What’er me beauty wishes!”
He bowed dramatically and then straightened to meet Carter’s gaze, her bright blue eyes dancing with amusement.
“Let’s go do this thing, General.”
“That’s my Colonel,” he grinned as she came to a stop by his side.
He then reached over Sam’s shoulder to flick the lights off to her lab, before his hand came to rest on the small of her back as he led her towards the elevator and the party. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be a very good night.