Colonel Jack O'Neill studied his military-precision watch, then crossed his arms. He glared at the sturdy entranceway to the large gate room. Dr. Daniel Jackson was late.
That fact didn't go past Captain Samantha "Sam" Carter or Teal'c either, the other two members of SG-1. However, it wasn't as though it were an uncommon occurrence. Usually it rack of time, or was getting just 'one more thing' to bring with him, and that normally meant Kleenex or antihistamines.
Sam smiled weakly. "I'm sure he'll be here in a minute."
"If not," warned O'Neill. "He'll be left behind."
"Sir?" asked Sam, brushing absently at her blonde hair. She kept her military issue combat helmet snugly under one arm.
"If we leave him behind just once, he might actually get here on time in the future," said O'Neill firmly.
The thud-thud of Army boots echoed from the outer corridor, preceding Jackson's entrance into the cavernous room which housed the circular Stargate device that enabled mankind to travel to distant parts of the galaxy in the wink of an eye. He was clad in the usual olive drab uniform, boots, black Alice vest, rucksack, and helmet, the latter which was already atop his head.
"Forget to set our alarm?" O'Neill cocked his head.
Daniel seemed distracted. "What?"
O'Neill shook his head. "Earth to Daniel." He rapped his knuckles against the hard helmet.
"Hey!" exclaimed Daniel, readjusting the helmet. "Geez, I'm starting to wonder about you military types."
"Huh?" O'Neill gawked at the archeologist.
Sam wondered what had elicited that kind of response. Daniel was usually so … respectful.
"You say one thing and then do another," Daniel said mysteriously, looking at the gate.
Sam could see that O'Neill was beginning to show signs of losing his patience, and the normally reserved archeologist was actually … frowning.
"And what exactly does that mean?" Jack's tone meant he would brook no long-winded explanations that went off on weird tangents, a specialty of Daniel's.
"I made a simple request, ONE simple request." Daniel was upset. "And look at what he did!"
Daniel Jackson whipped off his helmet.
"So?" said Jack matter-of-factly.
Sam stared and before she could stop herself, the words escaped her mouth. "Holy Hannah!"
Daniel gestured with helmet toward the captain. "See! See! I asked for a trim and look at what at what that man did!"
His hair was shorter, much shorter. In fact, Sam was so accustomed to seeing Daniel with long hair that she had to think long and hard about what was different. He had ears? He had tops to his ears? Was that it? In the last month, it *had* gotten awful shaggy, longer than normal, but then, they'd been so busy and had rarely had time to get off-base, let alone make time for trivial things like haircuts.
"Was it not cut to … regulation specifications?" inquired Teal'c calmly.
"No!" said Daniel. "He practically scalped me!"
Teal'c arched an eyebrow, a subtle non-verbal method of signaling that he had no idea what Daniel was so disturbed about and would probably never understand humans.
Sam, on the other hand, did have a good idea. As a child, she had once had long hair. Down to the waist. Then it was decided she'd get it cut. It took a bit of convincing from her mother, and the deed was done. She ended up with her blonde locks trimmed just above her shoulders. She'd been mortified and cried the rest of the day. Of course, she'd only been five years old, and the next day at school got over it when little William Danton had smiled in her direction.
"Oh, I see you find this funny." Daniel noticed Sam's amused look.
"No no, I was – never mind." Sam coughed, clearing her throat. "Your hair looks okay."
"Okay? I liked it the way it was," snapped Daniel, slapping his helmet back on. He flushed pink in embarrassment as he readjusted the backward helmet to the correct position so he could actually see.
"Oh for crying out loud, Daniel." O'Neill gestured grandly toward the gate. "You brought burs and bugs back on the last mission in that mop you called your hair."
"It was just one burr and one bug," corrected Daniel, ever the stickler for scientific accuracy.
O'Neill turned on his heel. He smiled that awful cat-ate-the-canary smile that he normally used on those who outranked him and annoyed him, and lord knew how but he got away with it. Sam wished she knew how. Perhaps because he was *that* good at his job and Hammond backed him up.
"Yeah, one big mother of a bug. Loaded up full of little baby bugs that jumped off you. Had three security guards chasing it down a corridor before it went into some air duct and could have a bunch of alien baby bugs that would take over this base and then the world," said O'Neill dryly.
"Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?" replied Daniel.
"No more than you whining about a haircut," countered O'Neill. "Count yourself lucky that Teal'c didn't cut it."
Daniel's mouth, which had been hanging open in preparation for a comeback, snapped shut and his eyes reflected horror for a second.
Sam figured that was because Teal'c shaved his head.
"I'm never getting my hair cut by the Air Force again." Daniel trudged up the ramp toward the blue-white shimmer of the gate. "This day can't get any worse."
O'Neill hung back a moment while Teal'c followed Daniel into the shimmering void. A grin enveloped his face and it actually looked like he was trying to suppress a … laugh?
"Sir?" questioned Sam.
"Carter?" O'Neill put on that innocent air again as they both walked slowly up the steel grating.
"Is there something I should know?"
O'Neill stopped in his tracks, just a foot from the glowing flux. He turned around and looked up toward the control room, where General Hammond was gazing down through the expansive glass window. Hammond was there for virtually every SG team going off-world. The Colonel gave the thumbs up to the General, who, in the distance, merely nodded, smiled and left.
Sam watched this interchange with curiosity. "Sir?" she prodded again, this time a bit more assertively.
O'Neill grinned. "At five o'clock this morning, Hammond had word sent down to Daniel that if he wanted to go on the mission this morning, he had to get a haircut."
"But… it's only seven o'clock." Sam realized. "He could never get to town and back in that time. He'd have to have it done—" Sam's eyes widened in horror. "Here."
"Hammond instructed Ralph to be kind." O'Neill put on his helmet. "After all, we didn't want poor Daniel to go into shock."
"Permission to speak freely, sir."
"Of course," agreed O'Neill.
"You didn't happen to mention to Daniel about that bug you brought back on your boot, did you?"
A mock serious expression gripped the colonel's face. "Need to know, Captain. Need to know," and then he went through the gate.
Sam stared for a second, smiled, then stepped into the gate.
© July 1999 by Elyse Dickenson. The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.