A/N: Well, this certainly went in a direction I hadn't expected. Feedback is, as always, savored, saved, and answered.

Set after Holiday on a planet of my own choosing.

By Any Other Name...

"Carter?"

"Sir?"

Jack O'Neill leaned close, keeping his voice low. "Do you, ah, have a...mirror?"

Sam turned to face him, her eyes wide with surprise. "A mirror, Colonel?"

"Shh." O'Neill waved a hand vaguely to where Teal'c and Daniel sat on their side of the fire, quietly chatting while they ate. "Yeah, Carter. A mirror. Do you?"

Carter shook her head slowly, her eyes still on her CO. "No, Colonel. I...wait, I have our signaling mirror. It's archaic, I know, but still part of mandatory field gear." She began to reach into her bag when O'Neill laid a hand on her arm.

"No, thanks. That won't...they're not very good. Never mind." The Colonel turned back toward the fire, absently running a hand through his short-cropped, greying hair.

Sam studied him for a moment longer, then returned to the last of her dinner. Across the fire, Daniel scraped the last of his spaghetti dinner from his bag and set it aside. He flipped open his journal and began scribbling, occasionally lifting his head to study each of his teammates, then going back to his notes. Finally, Sam could take it no more. While it wasn't unusual for Daniel to scribble in his journal all night, it was certainly unusual for him to stare at his teammates while doing so.

"Daniel?"

"Sam."

"What are you doing?"

"Writing." Daniel's absent reply made it clear that his attention wasn't entirely on Sam's question.

Sam sighed, then picked up a small pebble. She tossed it into the air a few times, considering her options. Just as she lifted her hand to lob it over the fire and get Daniel's attention, O'Neill spoke up, his voice low, meant for her ears only.

"Ten bucks says you can't get it to land in his coffee."

Sam turned to him, her eyes sparkling, meeting the challenge in his gaze. "You're–"

O'Neill held up a finger. "Ah! Without splashing him or the journal."

Sam narrowed her eyes, then looked from the Colonel to Daniel and back again. Mentally calculating the angles, she nodded. "You're on, Sir." She settled herself more comfortably on her sleeping bag, pressing her back firmly into the smooth boulder behind her. Once again she casually raised her arm, pretending to stretch. And once again she dropped her hand into her lap. She turned to O'Neill, her face impassive. "Let's see it."

"Carter?"

"Let's see the color of your money, Colonel."

O'Neill affected a wounded air, quietly slapping a hand to his chest. "Oh, Captain. You wound me." He glanced across the fire at Teal'c, noting that the Jaffa was following their quiet conversation, his feelings hidden behind his usual impassive façade. Finding no support there, Jack turned again to Carter. The only movement in her face was her eyes, sparkling with suppressed laughter. "Fine," he grumbled. Shifting slightly toward her, O'Neill reached into his bag and pulled out his wallet. He fished out a ten dollar bill and laid it on the gear bags set between them. Nodding at his money, he said, "Okay, Captain. Ante up."

Sam carefully laid her selected stone on her pillow and pulled out her own money. She set it atop O'Neill's ten and held both bills in place with her own coffee cup. She glanced again at Daniel, satisfied that he was still absorbed in his notes.

O'Neill gave her a nod and gestured with his chin, get on with it.

Sam stretched again, raising her arm above her head and double-checking her angles. Just then the archaeologist looked up and peered intently at her. Sam froze. She glanced sideways at the Colonel and noticed that he too sat frozen in his seat. Sam held her breath, waiting for Daniel to say something...anything. He simply gazed at her for a moment, then grunted and returned to his writing. Sam blew out a breath and turned to her Colonel.

O'Neill's jaw was slack, and he looked from Carter to Teal'c and shrugged. Damned if he knew what went on in Daniel's head most of the time anyway. Jack shifted on his sleeping bag, nudging the makeshift pillow holding the bet. He gestured again with his chin, his brown eyes daring Carter to go ahead.

Once again Sam raised her arm. She eased her hand back and let fly. The tiny pebble tumbled across the blazing campfire toward the unsuspecting Daniel's small, tin cup. Perched precariously on a low flat rock at the edge of the firepit, the cup was well-lit by the fire, providing Carter with a perfect target area. The small projectile arced gracefully down and just dropped into the cup on the side nearest Daniel, landing with a tiny bloop! A small splash popped up and splattered harmlessly on the fire-warmed rock.

Daniel's head jerked up at the sound. "Wh..hey!"

Sam smothered a giggle as Daniel peered suspiciously into his coffee cup, then lifted his gaze to the sky above him.

"Did you guys see that?"

O'Neill's face gave away nothing and he shrugged, turning to Carter. "I didn't see anything, did you, Captain?"

Carter chuckled as she pocketed the money they'd bet. "No, Sir. Not a thing." She poked at the fire with one of the branches O'Neill had left out for that purpose. "Daniel, what are you working on so diligently?"

Daniel, busy pouring his coffee out and fixing himself another cup, answered absently. "Oh, I was just thinking about Machello and his machine. Trying to figure out what he would have done had he gone into you guys. You know...like he did me. And gotten off base."

"I wonder if..."

"What, Sam?" Daniel leaned forward, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Oh, I don't know. Would you have known I was...me...by things I said, or did?"

"Sure. There are things we do that are simply inherent to us, aren't there?

O'Neill shuddered and ran both hand through his hair. "Don't remind me."

Teal'c spoke up. "O'Neill, it would not have been a permanent change."

Carter flicked her gaze from Teal'c to O'Neill. "What wouldn't have?"

O'Neill waved a hand at Teal'c. "Oh, nothing much, just my hair!" He glared at Teal'c for a second before turning to Carter. "He wanted to shave my head! Can you imagine?"

Unable to control her laughter, Sam simply shook her head. Teal'c, however, was nonplussed. "O'Neill. I do not understand. It would have, as you said, grown again."

"Not the point, T. Not the point." O'Neill jabbed a finger in Carter's direction. "And you. Some help you were. What kind of a Second allows her CO to be shaved?"

Helpless with laughter, Sam collapsed on her bedroll. "Sir," she gasped. "It wasn't you that would have had your head shaved, you were in Teal'c's body." She thought for a moment, a small frown wrinkling her forehead. "In fact, if you think about it, you did have your head shaved, since you were in Teal'c's body and that body had no hair on its head."

"Sam's right, Jack." Daniel piped up, his attention finally pulled from his notes. "In reality, Teal'c would have been shaving his own head...just in...your...ah...body."

O'Neill crossed his arms and glared at his team. "Let's just be clear on this, for future reference. Just in case we ever exchange consciousnesses, swap bodies, or somehow end up in each other's heads. No shaving of the head."

Sam sat up, still wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "Um, Sir? Can we amend that to, 'no shaving of any body parts?"

Daniel inhaled sharply, then began coughing. He'd been in mid-swallow when Sam voiced her addendum. Teal'c immediately began pounding on Daniel's back, helping him to breathe again. As he did so, he turned his puzzled brown eyes to Carter. "I do not understand, Captain Carter. What else would remain to be shaved?"

O'Neill snorted while Sam gaped at the Jaffa, her jaw dropping open in surprise. Teal'c comment sent Daniel into another fit of coughing, this one requiring more of Teal'c attention. Sam blushed bright red and turned away from them only to find O'Neill's twinkling brown eyes on hers, a small smile playing at his lips. He merely raised an eyebrow at her when she glared at him.

Thankfully, by the time Daniel caught his breath, Teal'c seemed to have forgotten his question. He nodded to the team and rose, disappearing into the night to begin his watch. Daniel dumped the last of his coffee into the fire, then he too gathered his things and prepared to head toward his tent. O'Neill's voice stopped him, mid stride.

"Daniel?"

"Jack?"

"Just what exactly did you mean when you said you'd never let me date your sister?"

Carter, who had been gathering her own things in preparation for retiring, froze, startled at the unexpected hurt in O'Neill's voice. She looked from Daniel to her CO, trying to guess where he was going with the question. She saw Daniel's eyes flicker to her briefly before they returned to O'Neill. Slowly she continued to pick up the last of her things, including her sleeping bag. She bundled it all up and headed toward the tent, straining to hear Daniel's response.

"Jack, I was making a joke. I needed you to understand it was me inside the old man's body."

"Oh."

As Sam eased herself inside of the tent, she turned and watched as O'Neill picked moodily at the fire. Daniel bent and awkwardly patted the Colonel on the shoulder, then turned and disappeared into the tent he shared with Teal'c. After a few moments O'Neill rose and bent to brush the dust off of his trousers. He shook out his sleeping bag and gathered the last of his gear, joining Carter in their tent. He settled quietly, obviously trying not to disturb her.

He felt...off...to her. It would have been silly for Sam to say she could hear his thoughts, but she could normally sense more of him than she could tonight. It bothered her enough that she finally broke the dark silence of the night.

"Sir?" Sam's voice was barely a whisper in the night.

"Yeah, Carter?"

Sam rolled over and propped her head up on her fist. "Are you...are you okay, Colonel?"

A soft grunt and the rustle of canvas against cotton signaled his movements, and Sam squinted in the dark to try to make out his form. Just when she thought he wouldn't answer, he spoke quietly. "Yup, I'm good, Carter."

"Okay. Sorry to bother you, Sir." Sam rolled onto her back and slid her arms back into her sleeping bag. He didn't sound fine to her, but she didn't know how to fix it.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Sir?"

"If, ah, you had a sister..." O'Neill's whisper faded away, then he continued, sounding disgusted. "Never mind, Carter. Not important."

Once again Sam rolled onto her side. It was too dark to see him, but for some reason she always felt better talking to him if she was facing him. "Sir...if I had a sister, I would be..." She took a deep breath, the thought of her CO dating someone in her family making her queasy, and not wanting to look too closely at why. Shoving aside her discomfort, she continued, "...I'd be perfectly happy if she dated you."

Neither said anything for a long moment, then O'Neill chuckled softly, his gentle laughter seeming to warm the tent. "Oh, Carter. You should never play poker. You're a terrible liar."

Sam blew out a long breath, trying to settle her stomach. "Yes, Sir. I'll remember that."

"So will I, Carter. So will I." More shuffling sounded from his side of the tent before he continued. "Thanks for trying, though, Carter. It was nice of you."

Sam listened as her CO's breathing slowly evened out, though she didn't think he was asleep yet. She ached inside as she realized that instead of easing his pain she'd added to it. She thought again of the flash of pain she'd felt when the Colonel had asked Daniel, still trapped in Machello's body, what outfit Daniel's sister had worn when he, O'Neill, had taken her out. Even knowing that Daniel had no siblings, and that the entire team had been together on the night the Colonel had mentioned, Sam had felt a momentary flash of...panic...at the thought of him being on a date. Ridiculous, Samantha. Get a grip. Sam firmly gathered her thoughts and shoved them in the 'deal with it later' drawer in her head. She reached up and bunched her makeshift pillow more firmly under her head, then rolled onto her side, facing away from her CO.

O'Neill spoke softly, his voice barely carrying to her. "And Carter? In answer to your question...I'd have known."

"Sir?" Sam whispered back.

"You asked if we would have known you were...you...in someone else's body." O'Neill cleared his throat, then said, "I'm just telling you...I would have known you."

Sam stared into the darkness and let the memory of those three confusing days wash over her.

The four of them stood in the infirmary, Janet and General Hammond standing nearby. She could see that it was Teal'c who'd edged over to stand so closely at her side, but he felt like the Colonel. She closed her eyes for a second and would have sworn under oath that the man at her side was Colonel Jack O'Neill. It was only when her eyes were open that she struggled; only then that things felt...out of focus.

Quietly, Sam answerd O'Neill. "Me too, Sir."