Late For An Important...
by Suz suzvoy@tesco.net

Disclaimer - MGM/Gekko/Double Secret own them.

Set after ‘Descent’ and before ‘Frozen’, but it isn’t an episode addition. Spoilers for ‘Redemption, Part 1’.

My first try at a Jonas PoV – and I end up making fun of him. Go figure.

*

“Are you done yet?”

Jonas frowned at the question, before sharing a look with Teal’c. The Jaffa simply tilted his head to one side, and lifted an eyebrow.

The Kelownan had soon discovered that was Teal’c’s response to almost everything, but had yet to discover if it was a joke at his own expense. He doubted it, simply because Teal’c didn’t seem the type of person who would perpetually make fun of someone, but Jonas did have to admit that he was still having trouble understanding his new team-mate’s sense of humour.

The man who had asked the question – Colonel O’Neill – had asked the same question three times already, and each time the frown on the intended recipient’s face grew deeper and deeper, and ever so slightly more irritated.

At least, that was what he suspected. Though he prided himself on his observations of people in general, he was having more trouble with the members of his own team than anyone else.

They were sitting in the commissary – an interesting word, he thought. He suspected that Major Carter had initially been at the table alone, finishing up a report and attempting to eat some dinner at the same time. According to Colonel O’Neill she frequently skipped meals, so they should at least be thankful that she was eating at all.

The Colonel had arrived at some point, and soon after that he and Teal’c had entered the room. They’d intended to sit by themselves – and he was definitely pleased with his growing friendship with Teal’c – when the long-term member of SG-1 had spied the O’Neill and Major Carter.

Though the Colonel had glared as they’d sat down, he’d said nothing.

Jonas knew that O’Neill still didn’t quite trust him – he’d have to be blind, deaf and dumb to have missed it, but with each passing day he was becoming just slightly less antagonistic. He could only hope that prolonged exposure to his company would eventually create a smooth working relationship. He wasn’t looking for forgiveness – he wasn’t expecting that – just the hope that, one day, he wasn’t always being compared to Dr Jackson.

He couldn’t, and wouldn’t expect them to forget Dr Jackson; just hope that they could eventually see him without seeing their friend.

And then the Colonel had started asking the question.

For all Jonas knew, he could have been asking it since before they came in. The Colonel had been sitting on the opposite side of the table to Major Carter when they arrived, poking a piece of cutlery at what Jonas believed was called ‘gel-lo’. However, since that time he hadn’t actually eaten a single forkful.

He just kept poking at it.

Each time the Major’s response would be something similar to “Not long now, sir,” or “Soon. I promise.”

After this latest time, O’Neill apparently began to notice that he was becoming repetitive, and shrugged to everyone in general. “Sorry. Hammond wants this finished by tonight.” He looked at his watch, wincing. It was clearly obvious he wanted to leave.

Jonas had read up on the procedures for the SGC; the report Major Carter was writing would have to be handed to O’Neill first, which was why the Colonel hadn’t left yet. However, Jonas couldn’t help but wonder why he was so anxious to leave the base...

A thought occurred, a memory stirring – something he’d seen on television (what an amazing concept) several times during his confinement. Something, he hoped, that would help to smooth the way between them. So he said it.

“What’s the matter, Colonel? Have you got a hot date or something?”

Something clanged noisily. It turned out to be Colonel O’Neill’s fork, which had dropped into the glass dish he hadn’t been eating from. Though the impact of the implement was cushioned by the large quantity of gel-lo still remaining, there was nonetheless still plenty of glass for the fork to fall against.

But the fork, or the gel-lo were not what really held his attention.

O’Neill looked up, then down, then at Major Carter, then away from Major Carter, then back at her again. The Major was hunched over her report and would have looked as though she were still writing were it not for the fact that her hand wasn’t moving, and her pen wasn’t touching the paper at all.

Teal’c, with the greatest amount of emotion Jonas had ever witnessed, closed his eyes.

Jonas was completely at a loss as to what was going on.

The Colonel eventually spoke, continuing to look at then away from the Major, seeming almost...guilty? “I don’t know about ‘hot’, but...yes. I do have a date tonight.” He looked as though he was undergoing particularly painful surgery without any medication.

“I see.” Jonas nodded. Though he understood that Teal’c was still mourning the loss of Drey’auc, he’d yet to hear anything about the Colonel or Major Carter seeing anyone. Although there had been some discussion of the Colonel once being married... “Is it someone that we know?”

“No, no,” O’Neill replied immediately, finally staring down into his dish and picking up the fork – though he did nothing with it. “A friend of mine that I’ve known for...God, *forever*...ever since I got divorced he’s been trying to fix me up with someone else, and there’s this one woman that he just won’t let drop. He’s been going on about her for the last six months and seriously won’t take no for an answer. I figured, what the hell?” He shrugged, still staring at the dish. “I’d do it this once, then tell him it didn’t work out. Seemed the fastest way to get him to shut up about it.”

“Who knows, Colonel?” Jonas sipped at his tea. “You might like her.”

“Oh I’m sure I won’t,” Again, the Colonel’s reply was immediate, his head whipping up to look at him. “You know what blind dates are like.”

Actually, Jonas didn’t, but he nodded anyway.

“I’m sure I won’t enjoy myself,” O’Neill continued, glancing once again at Major Carter, who had resumed her writing – albeit very slowly. “I bet she’ll have no personality and a laugh like a foghorn.” Another thought occurred to him. “And ugly! Like, *really* ugly.” He began gesturing with his hands, waving the fork about. “You know; facial hair, puffy cheeks, a huge honkin’ wart on the side of her face with a big black hair sticking out from the middle of it.”

Jonas blinked at the mental image that was being conjured up – and the Colonel wasn’t even done yet.

“She’ll be wearing hideously bright clothes, a top that’s so tight it cuts off the blood supply to her arms, and a skirt so big that she pulls it up to her chest just to stop it falling down. And that’s not even *mentioning* the body odour problem...”

Throughout his entire ‘speech’, his gaze had constantly flittered between everywhere in the room and Major Carter. Now, it had settled firmly back on her; still hunched over, still writing her report.

Although, from what Jonas could see of it, he wasn’t sure ‘damndamndamn’ was a real word. He’d have to re-check the dictionary they provided him with, despite the ‘amazing memory’ he apparently had.

Finally moving, she lifted her head and smiled brightly. “Well like Jonas said sir – you never know. You might enjoy yourself.”

“But I won’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes I do.”

“Sir, you’ve never even met her.”

He shrugged. “I have a sense about these things.”

She smiled again, but to Jonas it seemed not quite...real. “If you go there expecting to have a bad time, you will have a bad time.”

The Colonel finally lifted a fork full of gel-lo. “So be it. Besides, what do I need some stupid date for? I don’t wanna complicate things. I’ll be fine as long as I have you tw...” His gaze slid towards Jonas, and when he continued he was distinctly less enthusiastic than he had been before. “...guys. You guys.”

“Well,” Major Carter announced, heavily drawing several lines through ‘damndamndamn’ – apparently it wasn’t a real word, after all. When she was done, she slid the sheet of paper around her plate, past the Colonel’s dish of gel-lo and deposited it onto the very edge of the table. “This is finished, sir. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my lab.” With one final smile so tight that Jonas was temporarily concerned that her jaw might snap off, she left.

The Colonel stared at the report, his fork, her plate, and then her rapidly leaving body. Suddenly he moved, his chair screeching as he stood up and ran after her with such speed that Jonas could almost imagine that he left small clouds of dust behind, like in those cartoons.

Shaking his head, Jonas turned back towards the table...and saw the report, still lying on the table. Grabbing it, he stood and turned, planning to run after-

“Jonas Quinn,”

Pausing, still standing, he glanced towards Teal’c. “Yes?”

The Jaffa was calmly chewing at the selection of grapes on his plate. “It would not be best for you to follow at this time.”

Frowning, Jonas gestured towards the exit. “I just want to give the Colonel the report so he can get to his date on time.”

Something almost resembling a smile graced Teal’c’s features. “He will not be going on this ‘date’.”

Frowning even harder, Jonas sank back into his seat. “How do you know?”

Another raised eyebrow. “Observation. You will learn, given time.”

Jonas supposed he was right, sighed, and idly glanced through the report he was still holding. There was so much he didn’t understand, but one thing most of all. “Teal’c?”

Another grape. “Yes?”

“What does ‘damndamndamn’ mean?”

~FINIS

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