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Jack wasn't sure how he'd ended up flirting with Carter and picking out dresses for her, but it'd managed to be kinda sweet in the end. But, as far as them going to the wedding together, that'd been a no fly zone no matter how much Jack wanted it.

But Carter had said no and Jack, both as friend and CO, had to respect that decision.

He'd spent the morning swimming and had darted back up to New Atlantis to nab a towel from his hut when he saw her. Dammit. No avoiding Carter now. He'd have to speak to her out of politeness; it wasn't like he was mad at her or anything. He just couldn't trust himself around her.

"Morning, Carter."

It'd be easier if he had on more than swim trunks, wouldn't it?

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"Morning, sir." It was habit to address him like that, and it sounded more formal than she meant, but what else could she do? She didn't trust herself to be on a first name basis with him right now, especially when he looked like that. He must have been swimming, she thought, and she was trying not to pay attention to the fact that he was shirtless.

"Did you have a good swim?" Polite chitchat; she could handle that.

"Yup," Jack said chipperly, grinning a little as he stretched. The water had been good for the achy muscles after his run and he was in a good mood; not even awkward with Carter could ruin that.

He reached in the pocket of his trunks and pulled out a shell about the size of his palm.

"Found this for you. Thought you could keep your tags in it."

Jack's grin was contagious, and Sam smiled in spite of herself. "Oh," she said, taking the shell. She didn't mean to do it, but her fingers brushed his when she took it, and she felt her face flush like she was a teenager or something. "Thanks."

He was bringing her seashells. God, she didn't know what she was resisting for, sometimes.

Jack laughed a little. "I'd been thinking car keys originally, but no use for those out here so I had to improvise."

Or he could have just not brought her the damn shell, but it seemed to make her happy. Jack closed his eyes slightly when her fingers brushed his; dammit, bad time to have those thoughts.

"Mind if I...?"

Jack wasn't sure if he was asking to come inside her hut or what but the awkward still lingered between them.

Whatever you do, O'Neill, don't kiss her. She's not interested.

"Come in?" Whether it was finishing his question, or giving him an answer, she wasn't sure. She wasn't even sure which she wanted it to be. They'd only been talking five minutes and she was already getting tongue-tied.

"Yeah," Jack said quietly, stepping inside. "Any progress on saving the universe one computer at a time or is today a vacation day?"

"Still working," she said. "Actually, I've come up with some equations that take into account the discrepancies in the varying timelines and also allow for the difference in..." She trailed off, turning the seashell over and over in her fingers. Maybe going on about her work wasn't the greatest thing, she decided, since it was kind of a sore spot.

"I'm making progress," she finished lamely, gesturing as if to say that about sums it up.

"Good to know, Carter," Jack said, fooling around with the knicknacks in her hut. Where'd she get all those books already? Leave it to Carter.

"Guess it'd be stupid to ask if there was anything you'd need my help with, huh? I can hold wires and stuff..."

Sam shook her head. "No, it's okay," she said. "It's a lot of...math. Calculations, that kind of thing."

Of course, as stupid as she sounded right now, it was like she couldn't add two plus two without getting fifteen.

"How's the knee? Dr. Keller cleared you for running again yet?"

"Yeah, I went earlier," Jack said, shrugging. "I'm still not in top shape and I didn't think you'd want me to slow you down. Sorry," he said, giving her a sheepish grin. "Maybe next time?"

Jack sat at the little table they'd played cards on and folded his hands. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I kissed you. It was completely out of line even if we are the same rank now."

Sam just looked at him for a long minute, trying to decide what to say. She felt a little choked, a little panicked, and a little sad, but she didn't show any of it. "I thought we weren't going to talk about it," she said finally. She was still playing with the seashell; she put it down by her bed and crossed the room to the little table, though she didn't sit down. "You don't need to apologize."

"Then I guess we're not talking about it," Jack said quietly, drumming his fingers against the table. "What'd your math tell you about getting us off this rock and back home? Wasn't paying attention a minute ago."

But since Carter didn't want to discuss the kiss, Jack wanted to focus on going home.

Of course, now that they had established that they weren't talking about it, she felt like talking about it. She'd never been very good at talking to him about anything other than work, though. Maybe it was a sign.

"I had to come up with an algorithm to account for the fact that there are fictional people here," she said. "Though that only works if you don't subscribe to the idea that we're in some kind of... virtual reality. At this point, I'm not really sure which to believe."

"Guess not," Jack said, shrugging. "I don't see how you figure putting people into a formula, but I've never pretended to understand half of what you do."

Admired it from afar, maybe, but never understood it.

"Are you at least getting some sleep?"

"I'm really hoping that's what it is," she said hesitantly, "and not the virtual option. But I don't know for sure, not yet." And until she did, she didn't want to think about the implications very much.

She nodded at his question. "Yes," she said, though it wasn't really the truth. She was pulling more all-nighters now than she had in the last couple of years, trying to solve this.

Jack leveled his gaze at her, trying to read her for any cracks. They'd worked together too long for her to lie well, but if she wanted to, she could. He wouldn't try to catch her in it.

"Eat and sleep. Those are the only orders I can give you out here, and those are more suggestions since you and me are the same rank."

"I'm doing both of those things," she said, not quite testily, but close. That was all she was doing except working, anymore; she felt she was so close to an answer that doing anything else but work and basic necessities felt frivolous and wasteful.

Jack arched a brow. "Carter? Do I have to tie you to the bed to get you to sleep? I will, you know. I don't have any qualms about it. I'll even bring mangoes and feed you by hand if I have to."

"It's under control, sir." She couldn't help but think of Fifth, pretending to be Pete, trying to distract her from figuring out what was really going on, and it tore at her. What if this Jack O'Neill that she was falling in love with was the same as that Pete had been--just an impression to cover who was really there, trying to keep her from working out the truth? She didn't know which way was up anymore.

Jack sighed a little, trying not to get angry. It'd really help his chances with Carter if he blew up at her, right? Still, her slipping into insane problem solving mode without coming up for air...he didn't know when he'd made that shift from CO to...whatever but he didn't like it.

"I care about you, Carter. Try to remember that when you're killing yourself?"

Because I care about her. A lot more than I'm supposed to. She'd known it for years, but it was different now.

"I know," she said quietly. She gave him a long look, hoping he would understand, because if he didn't she didn't think she would be able to break it down to explain it to him. In a lot of ways she didn't think she could explain it to herself, if she had to.

"I just... I have to do this. I have to try."

"Right," Jack said quietly, jaw tightening. "Like I said, don't kill yourself. I'm sure some version of me might care about that."

This version cared about that, but who was counting?

Sam hadn't been sure what she expected his response to be, but she definitely hadn't expected it to be so cutting, and for a minute she just stared at him in disbelief. There was a sarcastic wow on the tip of her tongue, but it didn't quite make it out of her mouth. Can you blame him? she asked herself, but it didn't help.

Dammit. Way to go, O'Neill.

Jack sighed and tried to soften his tone a little. "Sorry, Carter. That was a little harsh...don't know what's going on with me today."

Sam shook her head. "It's all right, sir," she replied. "This isn't... none of this is easy." Here was the man she'd been in love with for a large part of her life, and he was perfectly willing to pursue a relationship with her, and she was burying her head in the sand. Was she being a good officer or just a stubborn idiot? She hoped for the former but was afraid it was the latter.