AUTHOR: Manders
EMAIL: amphetamine47@yahoo.com
RATING: G? PG? It's about cake, people, werre not talking risque!
SPOILERS: Season 6, Frozen
DISCLAIMER: I don't own them. I don't even own cake...tho I'd like some, if you've got any...
SYNOPSIS: Sam bakes a cake. Teal'c helps a lot.
NOTES: No, Jonas isn't in this story. Not because I have any animosity towards the guy or anything, but because they haven't really shown him off-base and I don't really have a hold on his character. Plus I didn't think this was really his pony, if you get my drift. After all, he hardly knows Jack...
"Major Carter?"
Teal'c sounded confused and a little concerned. Carter couldn't really blame him; she was feeling pretty much the same. He entered the kitchen to find her pushing a chair to one corner of the kitchen.
"Major Carter, do you require assistance?"
"Yes...uh...the smoke detector, Teal'c, please."
He immediately reached up and yanked it off the ceiling, and it thankfully ceased beeping.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm...," she sighed heavily and hurried back to the oven, from which smoke was still spewing, "failing."
"Failing?"
She gave him a wry look tinged with sadness, "How is it that I can build naquadah reactors and particle beam generators, but I can't bake a stupid cake?"
His brow furrowed, and he was obviously trying to come up with an answer before she smiled and held up a hand, "Rhetorical question, sorry."
"Why are you attempting to bake this cake?"
Sam sighed as she yanked on her oven mitts and reached for the cake pan; God she missed Daniel.
"I just...wanted cake."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow and nodded. Sam smothered a smile; that was the Teal'c way of saying 'I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm going along with it anyway.' She tossed the cake pan and the blackened remnants of cake on the range and slammed the oven shut. "I just wanted cake," she repeated.
"Could you not simply purchase a cake, Major Carter?"
"It's not the same," she shook her head, "No. That's...not what I wanted."
"I shall assist you, then. We will bake another cake."
"No...no...I..."
"Do you wish for me to call Doctor Frasier? Perhaps Cassandra-"
"No, Teal'c, please. I just...wanna bake a cake."
Teal'c stared at her for a long moment, then: "You are distracted."
She looked up, ready to deny it, but relented with a nod, "I guess I am."
"You are worried about Colonel O'Neill."
Another nod.
"O'Neill will recover. The Tok'ra have given their word."
"I know."
There was a long moment of silence, and then Teal'c spoke again: "Parcheesi?"
Her head jerked around, and she stared at him incredulously for two long seconds before bursting in to giggles. Teal'c simply stared at her, but she could see the mirth in his eyes, and it made her giggle even harder.
"Major Carter," he said, straight-faced, "have I said something amusing?"
This made her laugh harder, and she slumped against the counter, shaking with laughter. She laughed for a solid minute, sliding all the way to the kitchen floor with her back against the cupboard door before finally wiping away tears and asking,
"Parcheesi?"
"An earth game Cassandra introduced me to. In it one-"
"I know what Parcheesi is, Teal'c, I just...why are you bringing it up now?"
"In an attempt to distract you from your desire to bake a cake."
"Why?"
"For fear that you would burn your home to the ground."
She began to giggle again, though not quite as hard this time, and reached up a hand so that he could help her to her feet. She stood there a long moment, gaze flicking between Teal'c and the oh-so fragrant remains of her blackened cake until,
"I'm worried."
He nodded, and she sighed, grabbing a spatula to try and coax the lump of cake from the pan,
"It seems like everything's gone wrong lately. I don't want this to go wrong."
"O'Neill will recover," he said simply. She put the spatula down and stared at the cake for a long moment,
"I wanted to say I was sorry. That's why I was baking the cake."
"You have no reason for which to be sorry, Major Carter."
"I was the one that asked him, Teal'c. I know how he feels about it and I asked him anyway."
"He acquiesed."
She was still a long moment, then nodded slowly.
"And yet you still believe that you are somehow to blame."
"I do."
His brow furrowed; he doubted that he would ever understand the people of this planet.
"I do not believe that O'Neill blames you, Major Carter."
She didn't reply, so he spoke again, "I believe that he thanks you for saving his life. As he has many times before."
"That was different," she said softly.
"It is no different."
"What if something goes wrong?" she demanded, "What if the Tok'ra were wrong and the symbiote refuses to leave?"
"An unlikely scenario."
"But a possible one," she returned, "Or what if something goes wrong when the symbiote joins? When it leaves? What if-"
"Major Carter."
She stopped, stared at him.
"For now we must trust that we have done what was in the best interests of Colonel O'Neill. We have acted as our consciences have directed us, have we not?"
She nodded slowly, and he nodded once back at her.
"Then all that remains," he said quickly, taking the spatula and quickly disposing of the cake-remnants in the pan, "is to bake a cake."
She looked at him, incredulous for a long moment, before a small smile spread across her face.
"I believe," Teal'c continued, glancing over at her, "that it is called a 'welcome home party'?"
"Yes," she said softly, "Yes it is."
So they baked a cake.