Rhythms And Rituals
O'NEILL: You could come with.
CARTER: Sir?
O'NEILL: Fishing, Carter. I'm going fishing.
CARTER: You know I'm planning on studying the artifact.
O'NEILL: Yes. It's always something, isn't it?
CARTER: Oh, come on, Sir, we both know the only reason you asked is
because you knew I had something else to do.
--from "Sight Unseen"
It was an art form in and of itself, their relationship.
It had its rhythms and rituals. Which, really, was what made it a relationship. Of course, those rhythms and rituals were subtle, given the nature of their relationship and the fact that it couldn't, per say, be a relationship. Still, each of them had their own ways of testing exactly where this relationship stood.
Jack, for instance, had his fishing invitations.
"I could stay."
"We've all been cleared, Sir. The base is clean. Jonas is probably suffering from stress. This is all still pretty new to him."
Like this one.
"You could come with."
He knew it sounded too casual as soon as he'd asked. Carter, of course, didn't notice. She was too busy processing what it meant.
"Sir?"
"Fishing, Carter. I'm going fishing."
Oo, she was angry. Good.
"You know I'm planning on studying the artifact."
Yeah, he did, but that was beside the point. She was angry. And that pleased Jack.
Jack wasn't going to let her know that though.
"Yes. It's always something, isn't it?"
Oooo...that really got to her. Jack almost wished it was a serious invitation.
"Oh, come on, Sir. We both know the only reason you asked is because you knew I had something else to do."
Yup. Exactly. He'd purposely asked because he knew. He'd also made sure Carter knew he knew, subtly of course.
Because, again, that wasn't the point. The point was she was angry. She didn't seem to understand that he wanted her angry, because angry about not being able to go meant that she wanted to go.
And her wanting to go meant...
Oh, yeah, it so wasn't about the invitation or about her going or not going (this time anyway). It was about her wanting to go.
She might not know that--she might never know that--but it didn't matter if she did or not. She had her own rituals (like getting drunk and calling him Jonah just to hear him call her Thera). This one was his. This was how he would know, as he sat up on his dock, that she wanted to be up there with him...not fishing.