Jack set down the wooden box full of tubers he hadn't yet learned the name of, and rolled his shoulders. Teal'c announced that he was going to the water hole -- cenote, Jack's brain always corrected; he'd spent too much time in Central America -- and Carter stopped her work to smile at them as she wiped sweat from her forehead. Then she straightened the piece of wood on the chopping block and swung the axe over her head.
They'd been on Mraa-dtr-j for almost four months. Jack and Teal'c had taken jobs as field hands at the largest farm in the next village, in exchange for a share of what they harvested. The landowner had waved Carter away with a scandalized glance -- women didn't work for pay here -- so she mainly worked on their small parcel of land, and in the adjacent forest. Daniel spent his mornings helping Sam and his afternoons learning the local language, sitting with two very old men and one ancient woman as they commented on life going by in the middle of the village. Jack wasn't bad with languages -- his Spanish was good, and he'd picked up more Arabic than he'd ever wanted to know -- but it would take him decades to master Mraa-whatever. Apparently it was one of the most complex Daniel had come across, with tones and a syllabary, and a lot of what Daniel called infixes and Jack understood as verbs smushed into the middle of nouns.
Carter went with Daniel sometimes, but had only picked up a few words. At night and on holy days, they all worked on the cabin they were building with logs Carter felled.
Jack leaned on the corner of their unfinished house, fiddling with a dry stem he'd pulled from one of the tubers. The stems were poisonous, the landowner had told them in improvised sign language.
There'd been a new chill in the air all week, but Carter had stripped down to her tank top, which was thick and heavy with sweat. Her hair, now at what Sara would have called an awkward length, fell in her eyes and curled wetly on the back of her neck. Her shoulders were huge from swinging that axe, her biceps and triceps rippling. She'd lost a little weight but not enough to make Jack worry. He stood there, watching her for a few moments without thinking at all, and then for a few more thinking, "Don't do this to yourself, O'Neill."
She didn't wear Shanahan's ring on missions. It was probably in a drawer in her lab, and would stay there until somebody cleared out her belongings.
He didn't notice at first that she had paused again, turning slightly to look at him with a little smile and a sparkle in her eyes. Jack blinked and wondered what she'd just seen on his face. He'd been so good here, so far. He thought he had.
"You all right, General?" she asked.
Jack stood up straight and took a few steps towards her. "Fine," he said. "Long day, Carter?"
"No longer than usual." Her eyes were still sparkling. She gave him one more smile and went back to chopping wood.
***
The four of them slept close together, sharing borrowed blankets made from the wool of an animal that looked nothing like a sheep, in a tent made of more borrowed blankets and some twine. The ground had more give than the floor of the house would, but not by much. Jack had gotten soft, sitting in George Hammond's comfortable chair.
He was restless, too cold without a blanket but too warm with one. It was a relief when Daniel came to wake him for his watch and took Jack's place in the tent.
They kept watches out of habit. Carter had set up only three each night, so they each got every fourth night off. Tomorrow was Jack's turn. Tonight was Carter's.
He let the fire go out, covering the embers with ashes; Daniel liked to go over his notes, but Jack had no such need and he knew how hard Carter worked to keep them in firewood. It was just a few hours before sunrise.
In the distance he could see the faint glow of the city 30 klicks away. They had streetlamps made from a photoluminescent crystal found in caves far to the north, Daniel had said. A few here in the village had them, too, but they were a luxury. Daniel had wanted to move into the city, and Carter thought she might find work there, but in the end they'd all agreed to stay closer to the cargo ship. It was a six-day hike into the forest, half sunk into the limestone.
There was no moon on Mraa-dtr-j. Jack studied the stars, for a while, making out shapes. Someday, when he could communicate properly, he'd ask the elders to tell him what they were called, if Carter didn't beat him to it.
He walked around the cabin, checking the grooves and seams between the logs. The walls were about two-thirds done, with holes cut for windows and doors and a fireplace. They'd be lucky to finish by the first snowfall.
He walked to the edge of the forest to pee.
When he returned, Daniel was mumbling something in the tent. A few seconds of careful listening told Jack it was nonsense, possibly in Mraa, and Daniel was still asleep. He went back to his meanderings but before he got far, he heard a gasp -- Carter's -- and a rustling, followed by a thump and an "Ow!" Jack rushed back and peered under the blankets.
Daniel always kept a flashlight by his head, and he flicked it on. "Sam?"
"Colonel Carter, are you well?"
She looked disoriented more than anything, sitting up between the guys. "It was just a weird dream," she said. She turned her gaze to Jack, then away. "I'm sorry I hit you, Daniel."
"It doesn't hurt much. There'll just be a big, green, swollen bruise."
"I think you'll live," Carter said.
Jack said nothing.
"Will you be able to return to sleep?" Teal'c asked, his voice full of the concern he reserved for Carter. Nightmares weren't unusual for any of them, and SG1 standard practice was to make sure the dreamer went back to sleep before nodding off yourself.
"Yes, I'm fine." Jack heard a little irritation creep into her voice, but she lay down and rolled onto her side.
Teal'c settled down, too. Daniel looked at Jack. Jack just shrugged and let the blanket fall from his hand.
But he had seen Carter's eyes; he knew that was no nightmare. He tried not to imagine what she was dreaming about as he went to check out the house again.
***
At dawn, Jack grabbed a bucket and headed for the cenote. It would soon be too cold to bathe outside, and Jack would miss it. The village houses all had deep, rectangular tubs that they heated with hot rocks, and running water pumped up from the aquifer; SG1 had laid the clay piping for their house, but hadn't bought a pump or built a tub.
He spread his clothes on a rock and dumped three buckets of water over his head. The sun was starting to peek through the trees.
Teal'c joined him just as Jack was finishing, and Jack handed off the bucket. He lay in the grass to dry off a bit, chewing on a leaf that tasted like rosemary. The villagers said it was good for cleaning the digestion and the air. They hung bundles of it in the corners of their homes, inside and out.
Jack heard Teal'c splashing in the water. It was a holy day, the feast of Kge-lm-something; they had some time to relax before they started work on the house.
"I have noticed one of the village women behaving strangely around Daniel Jackson."
"Flirting, Teal'c." Jack didn't open his eyes. He knew Teal'c was messing with him. "It's called flirting and you know it."
"Flirting, then. I do not believe Daniel Jackson is aware."
Jack wasn't sure. Nine years after meeting the man, he still hadn't decided whether Daniel's occasional cluelessness around women was an act or just, well, cluelessness. He knew the woman Teal'c was talking about; she couldn't have been more than nineteen, but she had big, brown eyes and dark olive skin, and Jack found it hard to believe Daniel hadn't noticed.
Teal'c splashed around some more, and then his voice came closer. "Colonel Carter did not sleep well for the rest of the night."
Jack knew. He'd heard her tossing and turning, and he'd suspected Teal was also awake. He got up and started pulling on his clothes. "She's fine, Teal'c."
"Of that I am certain. I merely thought that perhaps you would wish to speak with her on the matter."
Jack stopped with his t-shirt over his head, then quickly pulled it down. "Teal'c, you're being a little too obvious here, buddy."
Teal'c gathered up his own clothes. "I apologize. I shall attempt to be less obvious in the future."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Somehow I doubt that."
Teal'c almost smiled outright. Almost. "Nevertheless, if you are concerned about our chances of rescue, I do not believe --"
"We're not going anywhere," Jack said, dressed now and just waiting for Teal'c to finish. "I know." There was no way for the SGC or any of their allies to know which planet Anubis had dragged them to, let alone which course they'd taken after escaping. They'd been lucky just to be able to point the ship at an inhabited planet before they lost control. They'd been luckier still to end up in a culture that valued hospitality as much as the Mraa did.
On the plus side, Anubis had no way to find them, either. Carter had gone through the wreckage for days and found nothing resembling a tracking device.
As Jack and Teal'c started back to the house, they passed Daniel and Carter on their way to the cenote.
"Perhaps Daniel Jackson would like to pay his respects to his suitor this morning, before we begin our own work."
Now that was an idea Jack could get behind.
Daniel said, "What?" Jack still didn't know if it was an act.
***
It was full dark by the time they'd raised the last log for the day. The walls were well over their heads, now. The next big jobs would be adding interior walls for the bathroom, and a floor for the attic.
They'd been invited to dinner at the home of the old woman who'd been teaching Daniel. Jack begged off because he was filthy and wanted a bath, and Carter said she did, too. Teal'c, having trouble with the subtlety again, gave Jack a significant glance as he trailed along after Daniel. They heard Teal'c asking Daniel if his young friend would be at the dinner before their shadows faded into the night.
"You think he knows?" Jack asked as he and Carter swapped a water bottle between them.
"Daniel? Absolutely." She took another sip of water and handed the bottle back to Jack. "She's pretty, don't you think?"
"I hadn't noticed."
Carter laughed. "I don't believe that for a second. Her hair is just like Mary Steenburgen's. She's awfully young, though."
"She looks nothing like Mary Steenburgen!"
Carter laughed again. "I'm going to sit down for a bit. You want to go first?"
"Sure."
When Jack came back from his bath, chilly with wet hair and wet skin, he wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and found Carter lying on the cabin floor. "What's up?" he asked.
She didn't look at him. "The view won't be this good much longer."
"No," Jack said. He stood in the doorway, looked back towards the cenote, looked at Carter. Finally he lay by her side, spreading the blanket over his legs and his bare feet.
"I want to ask them about the stars," she said. "When I learn how to say 'star.'"
Jack put an arm under his head and smiled. "Me too."
They said nothing for a few minutes. A light cross-breeze touched their skin. Leaves rustled outside.
"I wonder if they think we're dead," Carter said.
"I hope not." Jack thought about her father and her fiancé, Rya'c and Kar'yn and Ishta; he knew Teal'c's matchmaking was a cover for his grief. Jack and Daniel hadn't left much behind.
"I hope they do," she said. "So they won't waste time looking."
Jack didn't know how to respond to that. "It's a long way away." The other side of the galaxy, according to Carter.
"Mmm."
"Could we even see these stars at home, if we had a telescope?"
Carter propped herself up on one elbow, so she was facing him. "We'd need an observatory."
Jack felt her breath brushing his arm and held his own. He'd become even more accustomed to close physical contact with his team since landing here, they all had, but sometimes, somehow, with Carter, it was different. No matter how much Jack willed it not to be.
He'd been so good. He really had.
What little light there was glinted off her messy hair, and the sparkle was back in her eyes. The sweat had dried on her skin. Her bare shoulders were powerful, and beautiful. She moved fractionally closer, and Jack tried to study the stars again.
Carter laid a hand on his cheek, stroking his short beard. "I like it, you know," she said. "Just like this. It looks good."
Jack felt like he'd slipped into a different universe, sideways and upside down. He panicked. "Carter?"
Instead of answering, she kissed him. Her lips were softer and warmer than anything he'd felt since the crash, her fingers tangled in his too-long hair. He could feel one of her breasts crushed between them. He wrapped an arm around her waist before his brain caught up with his tongue. "Wait." He pushed her away gently. "Wait a minute! Carter, you're engaged."
She pulled back a few inches. "We're not going anywhere, Jack."
"I know that. You're not even the first person to point that out to me today."
He found himself staring at her lips, his fingers itching to touch her hair. He felt the muscles in her arms contract, and sat up to get away from them. She sat, too.
"Jack?"
"Look, Carter. I'm flattered, I really am. But I'm not ready to be your last resort yet."
"My last -- what?"
"Someday I'll probably be happy to take his place, but --"
"Take his place?"
He couldn't help but notice that Carter had been reduced to parroting. Her confusion made Jack shut up, and almost feel a flurry of hope before he clamped it down.
"Jack, you're not -- oh, god." She shook her head. "You really believe that, don't you?"
Now he was confused. This was like the first time she'd explained wormholes. "Believe what?"
Carter sighed and touched his jaw again. "You were never my last resort. He was."
Jack opened his mouth to say something, but all he could manage was a faint, "Oh."
He saw her teeth in the dark. "I can't believe you didn't know that."
"How was I supposed to know that, Carter?"
She grasped his fingers. "You weren't. I just thought it was pathetically obvious to everyone."
And now that he thought about it, he could remember some conversations, some glances, when maybe it had been obvious. If he'd dared to notice.
"Funny," he said, turning his hand over to lace his fingers with hers. "I thought I was."
"Obvious?"
"Mmm."
"Actually," and she licked her lips, which made Jack desperate to taste them again, "I wasn't sure you were still interested until a few days ago."
"Huh," he said. He'd faked it better than he thought. He remembered dozens of meetings in his office and the briefing room; Carter asking Hammond for permission to tell Pete the truth, and later being captured by Fifth; the times she'd taken Pete's calls when they were out with the team, and Jack had looked away as she laughed into the phone. "I just wanted you to be happy, Carter."
"I know you did. Thank you."
"Huh," he said again, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. "Did he know?"
"I don't know. We never talked about it, but whenever I mentioned work, or you. Maybe. Probably." She shook her head. "He didn't know you were going on this mission. I hope he thinks I died loving him."
Jack suddenly felt sorry for the guy, but they had more important things to discuss right now. "So," he said.
"So."
"Yeah."
This was a great conversation they were having. Carter put a stop to it by leaning in to kiss him again. Jack didn't object, but his brain was doing some strange arithmetic.
"Wait," he said again, as her lips left his. "I don't know."
"What?"
"I don't. Carter." He grimaced. "I can't believe I'm about to say this. I don't think I can change gears this fast."
He could almost feel her disappointment in the air. He felt as if he'd slapped her.
"I don't understand," she said.
"I think I need a little time to get used to the idea again." She nodded, but he knew she still didn't get it, so he swallowed his pride. "I just spent a year trying to get over you, Carter."
"Oh," she said. "Yeah. That. Okay." And after a few more seconds of thought, she gave him a big grin. "I can live with that," she said.
"Good."
He stretched out on his back again, and Carter pillowed her head on his chest, one hand flat on his stomach. Jack pulled her close and they felt each other breathe.
"You'll let me know, right?" Carter asked after a few minutes had passed. "I mean, you don't want me to keep asking. 'Is now okay? How about now?'"
Jack groaned. "I'll let you know." He felt her quiet laugh through the damp fabric of his t-shirt. She sat up briefly to find Jack's abandoned blanket, and covered them both.
"These stars are really something," she said.
"Yes," Jack said. "They are."
***
Jack hadn't meant to fall asleep, but he woke to Teal'c's and Daniel's voices as they walked home from the village. He shook Carter's shoulder and she was alert immediately, shifting to her back.
"Hey guys," she called out, as Jack said, "Hi."
Daniel appeared in the doorway, Teal'c not far behind.
"Have a good time?" Carter asked.
"Best food we've had in months," Daniel said. "Something about this feast requires a lot of hot sauce and that rosemary stuff. You should have come."
Teal'c said, "Indeed."
Daniel went on to tell them about a breakthrough he'd made -- something about dependent conditional participles -- and it wasn't until he began to wind down that he noticed where they were. "What are you guys doing in here?"
"Testing the floor," Jack said. "Out of the goodness of our hearts."
Carter stood up. "Bath time for me."
Jack followed her, but only as far as the tent. He stretched his back and his legs. They'd gotten stiff.
"Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said as he began arranging kindling for a fire. "Perhaps you and I should split the watches tonight."
Daniel said, "You're absolutely right, Teal'c," and Jack was sure, this time, that he wasn't clueless.
"Teal'c! For crying out loud!"
Thanks for reading!