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Another One Of Life's Battle's - Part 1
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Title: Another one of life's battles
Author: Venom_69
Category: AU, romance, perhaps a little angst. Challenge response, 1, 457 & 1, 371
Pairings: Sam/Jack, Jack/other, tiny bit of Daniel/Janet mention of Daniel/Sha'uri
Summary: AU where Sam isn't in the military and Jack is still married to Sara, but Charlie isn't alive.

~*+*~


Challenge #1,371
Hi everybody!  I'd like to see a story with Jack's parents.  We never saw them!  They could try to reconcile Jack and his wife.  And so, it could be a Jack and Sara romance.  But it could also be a Sam and Jack romance...you make the choice!  And please, don't make Sara cry!  She doesn't deserve that!  Thanks!
Submitted by jewell64@hotmail.com

Challenge #1,457
I'd like to see another story where Samantha gets pregnant ( how is up to you!).There must be a lot of romance and humour in it! Maybe also adventure and angst ! I want to see a S/J story. Oh yes, and I prefer long stories. Thanks, hope I see such a story soon.

~*+*~

The secret of love, I thought I understood
The way it's supposed to be.
I never imagined you could, blow my theory apart.
But now you're running away with my heart.

-Wilson Phillips, Impulsive

~*+*~

The General had been kind enough to give him time to have a shower and get into his uniform. But he had been allowed this time with one strict instruction; to shave. The expression 'three day growth' was one that could easily be applied to Jack in his present condition.

He hadn't thought that he would be going anywhere so he hadn't bothered to make the effort as far as personal hygiene went. Of course he showered, but then again he had to have something to do while he waited for night to fall and for the stars to come out.

Sometimes, he would look up at the sky and think of Daniel. He had often found himself wondering what the kid was doing on Abydos. He wondered if maybe Ra wasn't as dead as everyone thought, or maybe there were more of his kind out there. Of course his brain would kick in right about then and accuse him of being a pessimist, and then he would move onto better, more optimistic thoughts. Like the fact that Daniel was probably alive and living happily with Sha'uri. After all, she had seemed pretty keen when they'd first met her. Okay, so more accurately she had thrown herself at the poor kid. Jack had to smile at that.

So he'd sit and look at the stars and try to find two really bright ones. The ones that looked like they would shine for eternity and he would dedicate one to Charlie and then one to Daniel, who unknowingly changed his life forever.

Naturally, Sara didn't like his new way of life very much. But then again, she had frequently said that the only reason she tolerated it was because she could understand what he was going through when it came to mourning the death of their son.

Charlie had died almost two months before Jack left on his mission to Abydos. He didn't tell Sara where he was going or how long he would be, but he hadn't been in his right mind when he left. . . and that's exactly why they picked him.

Realistically, he knew that he couldn't expect much from Sara. After all, he hadn't really expected to ever return. His mission had been simple, find a threat, send everyone else home and blow it to high hell.

Which he'd done, technically.

When they had finally been allowed to leave and he'd returned, his house had been practically empty, with only what had been his to start with and the bare necessities for living. Although, Sara had been gracious enough to at least leave him a note. Not really a 'dear John' letter, just a brief explanation.

'Dear Jack, by the time you return from your mission, I will be long gone. I don't know where you went, and I don't expect to ever find out, but after everything that happened, I didn't think that I could stay here any longer. If you ever pull you head out of your ass long enough to see what I mean, then give me a call at Frank's. Sara.'

So, he'd called her. It hadn't been a great conversation, not by far, but later they'd met up for coffee on neutral ground, and eventually they had moved back in together.

The house that they had been in when Charlie was alive was just full of way too many memories, and neither of them could bring themselves to go back into it's memory-filled walls. Jack couldn't do it when he returned from Abydos. He had just taken the civvies that he'd had on base and found himself a motel. He'd only been back into the house long enough to see that his wife had moved out and to find her note.

So, rather than face all that those walls held, they bought a new house after their old one had been auctioned. They got a good price, and were able to fix up their new place nicely.

The only provisions that had been given, were that Charlie's things were to be kept and put in boxes so that they couldn't be damaged, and Jack wanted the roof for his telescope.

They were going to be okay, until he got a visitor. Late at night, and after they'd woken Sara up looking for him, they had finally tried the roof.

And he'd been there, just like every other night, when the General's little puppy dogs had come to get him back to Cheyenne Mountain.

After a huge fight with Sara, which included her threatening him with scissors to do a home made castration, he'd stormed out and went to the base, ignoring the curious looks that he was getting from the goons that had been sent to retrieve him, and who had obviously heard the fight.

The first thing that had gone through Jack's mind when they'd arrived at the base was 'Thank god West is gone.' The general had not been one for sarcasm, and therefore, not one who liked Jack.

Although this Hammond seemed alright, once you got past the cranky exterior. After all, the guy had let him take a shower before they had to go to the briefing.

~*+*~

Jack looked down at his notes once more, trying to make sure that he was prepared for this briefing.

"Where's Carter?" Hammond asked, looking at Samuals.

"Just arriving sir." The Major replied, his eyes wide with an expression that clearly showed how glad he was that he hadn't been the one who was late. Punctuality was one thing that General's liked to pride themselves on.

"Carter?" Jack asked, not happy about having someone thrust onto his team. He needed experts and people who had at least *some* clue about what they were doing, not some kid who knew all the right people.

"I'm assigning Sam Carter to this mission" The General clarified.

"I'd prefer to put together my own team," Jack protested, seating himself.

"Not this mission, sorry. Carter's our expert on the Stargate." The General told him, looking anything but apologetic. The General could sympathise with the younger man, he had worked very hard to be on the flip side where he could force others to work together, rather than having people forced onto him.

Jack was definitely not happy about it, but if he had no choice than he was at least going to get some background information on this guy. Not necessarily name, rank and serial number, but just the general information, could he be trusted in a fight and that sort of thing. "Where's he transferring from?" Jack asked, defeated, but not impressed.

"*She* is transferring from the Pentagon." Came a soft voice from
the door, with emphasis placed on the gender. A relatively tall woman walked in, with blonde hair falling down to her shoulders, gently framing the soft curves of her face. She was in a black skirt-suit with a white shirt underneath and all of the buttons on the jacket left undone.

She had the biggest blue eyes that Jack had ever seen, and he found himself letting his initial distaste of the issue slip away from him.

"I take it your O'Neill?" She asked. He nodded and figured that he'd let her get the little introduction spiel over with before the briefing began. "Doctor Samantha Carter reporting." She said, a small smile twisting onto her features. "Sir." She added, making a horrible attempt to salute him. Jack could see catastrophe written all over her.

"But of course you go by Sam." Kawalski said sarcastically, his thoughts obviously running along the same lines as Jack.

"You don't have to worry Major, I played with dolls when I was a kid." Carter returned, equal to the task of a sparring match.

"Oh, GI Joe?" He asked, looking at her square in the eye.

"No." Carter said, as though he was the dumbest person in the world for not knowing the answer. "Major Matt Mason." She finished, pleased with herself.

"Oh." Kawalski nodded, and then he turned to Feretti. "Who?" He asked, confused. Sam had the feeling that it would be a look that she would become quite familiar with during this mission.

"Major Matt Mason, Astronaut doll." Feretti clarified. "Did you have that cool little backpack that made him fly?" Carter smiled, she had a kindred soul in this place.

Hammond, up until now, had been sitting at the head of the table watching the exchange between officers. As glad as he was that Sam had a potential friend here, he had to remind himself that although it was nice, this was a briefing not a discussion on who had the better childhood toy.

"Let's get started." Hammond said, bringing the debate to a temporary pause. He had no doubts that as soon as the briefing was over, they would all be back to talking about this topic in no time. "Colonel," He gestured, obviously not prepared to take over this meeting.

"Right. For those of you on your first trip through the Gate-" Jack paused to look at Carter. "You should be prepared for what to expect." He told them, specifically her. They had all been there and done that, she hadn't.

"I've practically memorised you report." She told him. "I'd like to think I've been preparing for this all my life."

Kawalski interrupted the little exchange, "I think what the colonel is saying, have you ever flown in an F-16 at 8 plus G's?" He asked her, eyebrows raised and clearly expecting the answer to be 'no.'

"Yes." Carter replied bluntly, not missing a beat.

Jack was slightly confused, he knew that she would have to be talented to get into the military's top secret facility, but the only way that she could have done jump training was if she had been in the military.

Kawalski looked stunned. "Well it's way worse than that." He said, recovering from his shock.

"It's like you've been through a blizzard. Naked." Feretti exaggerated.

Sam sent him a small, discreetly shown, patronising look, "That's from the compression your molecules undergo during the millisecond required for reconstitution."

Another scientist? Jack couldn't believe it. Daniel had been a scientist, and although the mission had ended in a relatively successful fashion, there had been a few times that Jack had regretted his agreeing to let Daniel come along. Not that he'd had much of a choice.

Jack was tempted to add a sarcastic remark, but instead decided to approach Hammond. "Another scientist? General, please." He said, gesturing with his hand towards Carter.

"Theoretical Astrophysicist." Carter corrected, sending him a challenging look.

"Which means. . .?" He asked, not really seeing the difference between a scientist and a theoretical whatever.

"Which means she is smarter than you are, Colonel. Especially in matters referring to the Stargate." The General pointed out. Jack winced, that was just plain rubbing salt in the wound. He was already aware that he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but Carter even looked smarter than he did.

This was going to be a long mission.

~*+*~

"So were you in the military?" Kawalski asked her as they sat around the campfire on Abydos. They were waiting for a sand storm to pass, and Skarra had said that it would take at least a day to run it's course. So they had decided to camp out in the main chamber where the Stargate was for the night and then head to the Cartouche that Daniel had spoken about, once the violent storm was over.

"Yeah," She answered, taking a bite of some meat that tasted surprisingly like chicken. "I was for a while." she finished.

"Why'd you leave?" He asked, well aware that Jack was listening and very interested.

"Because after the Gulf, I decided that I wanted to concentrate on science as opposed to a career in the military." She replied, casting a brief glance at her CO, having felt his eyes on her since they had sat down.

"Ever think of going back?" Kawalski asked, smiling at the look that Jack was giving her.

"Not really." She shrugged, sipping the water that the Abadonians had given them.

"What'd you go out as?"

"A Major. I just thought that I could achieve better things out of the military, although the way things turned out, I may as well have stayed." She told him, smiling at the officer, her eyes once again returning to Colonel O'Neill.

"Why do you say that?" he inquired, thinking that the least he could do was get to know her.

"Well, even after I left, I was always working with the military. I thought about going into private enterprise, but it just never happened." She told him, watching as the young boy that O'Neill seemed so attached to brought them over a drink.

"Try this." He told Jack, handing him an Abydos form of a cup.

Jack inhaled the incredibly strong scent of the drink, curious as to what it was. He paused for a moment while his brain tried to figure out where he knew that smell from. "Moonshine?" He asked.

"Moonshine." Skarra mimicked, testing out the new word, his eyes shining brightly.

Jack nodded, "Yeah, Moonshine. As in booze, as in. . . Daniel what have you been teaching these kids?" He asked as the man in question smiled and shrugged slightly.

Jack lifted the drink to his lips and took a long sip, instantly regretting it. All eyes were on him as he spat the liquid out and coughed a little. "Smooth, very smooth." He choked out.

"Your little soldiers are all grown up." Kawalski taunted playfully.

"Yeah, I'm so proud." Jack replied, still tying to get his voice to return to a somewhat normal state. Pure alcohol didn't do much for one's vocal cords, Jack mused silently.

"Colonel, we should get some sleep." Ferretti, told him with a smile still on his lips at the reaction of his CO and friend.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. Daniel, do you and the kids want some help guarding the 'Gate?" He asked, after his voice had gone down several octaves, as he began collecting his things.

"Thanks, but I think we've got it. Down the back to the left is a tent, you guys can use that to sleep in." He offered, with a smile.

"Thanks" He muttered as everyone said their good nights to the natives and headed towards their designated tent.

~*+*~

"Can't sleep?" He asked, watching as Carter tossed and turned like a restless child.

"Not really, did I wake you?" she asked, looking around and noticing that everyone else was still sleeping peacefully.

"No, feel like a walk to help tire you out?" He asked. Sam nodded and they got up and moved as silently as they could past their sleeping comrades, heading towards the entrance of the tent.

"So, you were a Major huh?" Jack asked, as they walked through the maze of tunnels filling the large chamber.

"Yep. *Were* being the operative word." she replied, casting an inconspicuous glance at him.

"Then I don't get it." He said, stopping to look at her. Sam emulated his actions and stopped, turning to face him also.

"What don't you get?" She asked, wondering what she'd said, or done, to confuse him.

"If you were military, then what's with the crappy salute that you gave me in the briefing room?" He asked, smiling slightly.

"What can I say? It's been a while," she laughed.

"So why'd you leave?"

"I thought you heard what I told Kawalski." She said, almost positive that he had been listening to the conversation that they'd had earlier.

"I did, but I don't buy it."

"Why not?" She asked, certain that what she had told him sounded reasonable.

"Because Carter, I checked you out. Your record, I mean." He ammended at her amused look. "If you had left voluntarily then it would have been on your record, but it wasn't. It didn't give details, but it did say that there was a court martial involved." He told her, truly curious.

"I was kicked out." She said simply, not really wanting to elaborate. In her opinion proving herself to this obviously stubborn man was going to be hard enough without him losing respect for her on the first night of their mission.

"What'd you do, tell some general off because he couldn't understand a word you were saying?" He joked, making her giggle.

"Not exactly." She said.

"Well why 'exactly' were you turfed." He asked, growing more intrigued by the second.

Sam took a deep breath, something that didn't go unnoticed by Jack. "I fell in love with a man under my command." She started, trying to tuck a loose strand of her hair back into the pony tail it was supposed to be in. "He was a captain, and as you know the fraternisation regulations state that the blame of the incident shall rest solely on the superior officer. So I was honourably discharged from the military, but stayed on as a civilian." She told him, seeing the surprise clearly on his face.

"Did the relationship survive?" He asked. Sam nodded and Jack sensed that she didn't want to discuss it further, and he wasn't about to pressure her into talking to him.

Sam shuddered at the memory of her fiancee. Jonas had been wonderful at first, which is why she'd risked her career to be with him. But after she left the military, things began to change. He wasn't as caring and considerate as he used to be. He became possessive and overbearing. Smothering was another good adjective to use to describe how sour their relationship had eventually become.

When she finally decided to break off the engagement, after the first time he finally lost it and hit her, it was the weekend that Jonas had planned for them to go away. Coincidently, it was also the weekend that the first Abydos mission was held. It figures that the one weekend she chose to break up with her psycho' boyfriend from hell, West sent the first team through to Abydos. She should have gone through then, she knew it, West knew it, hell, even Catherine knew it!

"You okay?" Jack asked, placing a hand on her arm. Her continued silence was worrying him, and if the look on her face was anything to go by, she had been reliving some memories. Not necessarily nice ones judging by the expression gracing her features.

"Yeah, just thinking." She replied, smiling at his concern. They sat down together against one of the walls, with their shoulders just barely touching.

"I get the feeling that you do that a lot." He replied, making her giggle again.

"So, Colonel. You get to know about my life, tell me something about yours." She said, resting her head against the wall and closing her eyes.

"What do you wanna know? Name, rank and serial number?" He joked, lightening the mood somewhat.

"No, just. . . something. You have blackmail material on me, I think that you should return the favour." she prodded, feeling the need to get to know this man for some odd reason.

"Well, let's see. I'm a Colonel in the United States Air force. . ." He began, but Sam cut him off.

"Something I *don't* know." She emphasised, shaking her head at him.

"Well, I'm married. I was born in Chicago, but I was raised in Minnesotta. I wasn't a typical student." He told her, thinking back to his youth.

"What was something that you did back in high school, that you wouldn't normally do?" Sam asked, looking up at him.

"When I was sixteen I lied about my age and went and got a tattoo. My mother freaked." He told her laughing at the memory. "What about you? Ever do anything crazy?" He asked, watching as she smiled slightly. "Come on, what'd you do?"

"Alright, when I was in junior high, I was dared to do something really weird to my hair. So, I went to the local hairdressers and had streaks done." She told him.

"That's it?" He asked. "Come on, at least I did something *really* stupid." He said.

"Well, you see, that's the thing. Since it was a dare, I had to do something that would be considered weird, so I had my hair streaked purple and blue." She told him.

"You didn't?" He asked, trying to imagine the blonde hair that sat so delicately on her head blue and purple.

"Yep. My hair was down to my waist then, so it cost me a fortune. My dad was ready to kill me." She laughed, and Jack joined in. He couldn't help but wonder if she had any pictures of that hairstyle.

"So, what do you do when you aren't working on the Stargate?" He asked, recovering from the mental images that came with the description of her hairstyle.

"I've spent the last two and a half years working on this. I have no life outside of the Stargate." She told him, the mood suddenly shifting from light hearted to sombre.

"What about that guy you were with?" He asked, instantly regretting it. It was fairly obvious that she didn't want to talk about it, and yet he pushed.

"I broke it off with him. Which is why I missed out on the first mission. I was away with him when you went through." She told him, remembering the huge fight that Jonas put up when she told him that the engagement was off.

"I'm sorry." He told her, sincerely.

"It's not your fault." She shrugged. "Anyway, I'm here now and that's all that matters."

"Yeah." He muttered, not sure what to say to her.

"So, you're married?" She asked, wondering why she wanted to know so much about this man.

"Yeah. If I had my wallet here I'd show you a picture, but I didn't think that the Abydos kids would accept cash." He joked, thinking about his wife. Ironically, Carter and Sara looked a lot alike. Except Carter had longer hair and bluer eyes. Jack mentally chided himself for even making the comparison.

"Good assumption, shoulda tried Mastercard or American express." She joked. "Got any ankle biters?" Sam asked. She saw Jack stiffen a little at the mention of kids and immediately knew that she'd struck a nerve.

"No." He murmured, standing up. "We should get some sleep. Big day ahead of us." He told her, offering his hand, which she accepted gracefully.

Jack walked back towards their designated tent, wondering why he'd held her hand a few seconds longer than was necessary. He shuddered when he remembered the feel of her soft hand in his. Why did she have to mention kids? It had been over a year since his sons death, and he still couldn't bring himself to talk about it.

Not even to Sara, and she hated that fact. She had always known that there was a part of him that she could never reach. She always thought that she could live with that, and when Charlie was born things had started to slowly change. Jack had opened up a lot more to her, but when Charlie died a part of Jack went with him.
Naturally, Sara didn't like his new way of life very much. But then again, she had never liked him being in the Air Force.

Realistically, he knew that he couldn't expect much from Sara. After all, he hadn't really expected to ever return to the 'gate program.

Sam sighed as she thought about the conversation that she'd had with her CO. For some reason, she was sure that she had offended him. Not something that she had hoped to do.

Sam listened to the breathing of her comrades. In particular, Colonel O'Neill. He was breathing heavily and unevenly, indicating that he was nowhere near sleep, and probably wouldn't be for a while.

For some reason, she didn't think that she would be able to manage the bliss that is sleep either tonight.

~*+*~

"So, was it as exciting as you anticipated?" Daniel asked her, sitting in the commissary drinking coffee.

Sam hadn't known Daniel for very long, but since Kawalski fell victim to the Goa'uld, they had all started to band together and become friends relatively quickly.

Sam shrugged. "Yeah I guess, but we didn't exactly go through the Stargate under very good circumstances." She told him, having previously expressed her sincerest apology for his loss.

"I know what you mean. Kawalski was a good guy, he didn't deserve to die like that." Daniel agreed, taking a sip of his steaming beverage.

"I didn't know him all that well. But he seemed nice enough on the mission." She told him, also sipping her drink.

"What do you think of Teal'c?" Daniel asked her after a minute of comfortable silence.

"He doesn't say much, but I think that what he did for us and all of the people that were going to die was really noble and brave. That speaks a lot about his character if you ask me." Sam shrugged. They hadn't exactly had time to sit and chat lately. Between going to Chulak and the attacks from the Goa'uld, there hadn't really been time to socialise. The General had only granted Colonel O'Neill's request to have Teal'c on SG-1 a few days earlier, and everyone had been too busy to commune with people on base.

"I agree. But I have to go, there's one of the artefacts that we brought back from P3X 595 that I want to have a closer look at." Daniel told her, standing and bidding her goodbye.

Sam waved him off and opened up the folder of the MALP's data on their next destination, P3X 797.

"Is this seat taken?" She heard a voice ask from just behind her.

Sam looked up to see her CO standing behind her with a cup of coffee and a bowl of fruit loops. She shook her head and indicated for him to sit down.

"So, how are you?" Jack asked, sitting down and eating a spoonful of his breakfast cereal.

"Fine thank you. I'm pretty sure that I've officially died of embarrassment, but other than that, I'm good." She smiled, remembering their last mission.

Jack smiled and thought about the little strip show that she had tried to put on for every person within a mile's radius. He doubted that he would ever forget that particular performance.

"I'm sure that nobody noticed." He commented, trying in vain to make her feel better.

"Oh, I thought that the table dance would have caught an eye or two." She muttered, her eyes dancing with a mixture of laughter, amusement and embarrassment.

"I wouldn't know. Wasn't really paying all that much attention." He muttered, laughing quietly to himself.

"Uh-huh." Sam laughed. "So what are you going to do for the duration of our down time?" she asked, suddenly feeling the need to shift the conversation to a topic that didn't involve the removal of any of her clothes.

"Well, I was thinking that if I could swing it, I'd get Teal'c a pass to leave base for a while and we could all have dinner at my place. You feel up to it? I promise that there won't be any free tables for you to dance on." He joked, his offer still genuine. Truth be told, he liked Sam, and they could be good friends, and if they were going to be good friends then he felt an unusual need for her to meet Sara. Or, more accurately, Sara to meet Sam.

"Sure." She shrugged, "Why not? Do we have a time for said dinner yet?" She asked, wondering what she was getting herself into.

"I'll let you know." He told her, standing and walking out of the room.

Sam sighed, this was either going to be a great night or it would be a disaster.

Her head hit the table. What was she going to wear?

~*+*~

"What time did you say they were coming?" Sara asked, stirring the pasta. She wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of having strangers in her house, but if they were going to make this marriage work than the least she could do was try and get along with Jack's friends.

"About seven." He told her, looking at the clock and realising that he only had a few minutes until they arrived. "So, I should probably go and get dressed before I start answering the door in your apricot towel." He joked, making his wife smile.

Sara turned back to the meal she was cooking, hoping that Jack's friend's liked pasta. She wondered what they'd be like, of course she knew their names but that was about it. Jack seemed to talk most about Sam, and he sounded like a fairly nice guy. Sara was interrupted from her musings by the sound of the door.

She wiped some bolognaise sauce off her hands and moved to answer the door with a tea towel still in hand. Sara opened the door to be greeted by the sight of a blonde female standing there holding a bottle of wine. She was wearing black jeans, a burgundy neck high top and a black leather jacket.

"Can I help you?" Sara asked. As far as she knew, everyone that was attending tonight were male.

"Hi, you must be Sara?" Sam guessed and held out her hand as Sara nodded. "I'm Sam Carter. Am I early?" She asked ignoring the surprised look on Sara's face regarding her gender. Sam was used to the gender mix-up, it had happened ever since she was a teenager and she had threatened anyone with extreme bodily harm if they dared call her Samantha.

"Ah, no. Come on in, Jack's just getting dressed." Sara told her, stepping back to allow the woman entrance to her house.

"Sure. Um, the Colonel didn't say that we needed to bring anything, so I just brought some wine. I didn't think that a six pack would be appropriate." Sam joked uncomfortably, handing Sara the wine, who was still shell shocked by Sam's gender.

"Hey Carter." Jack called, walking down the stairs, now fully dressed in jeans much like Sam's and a black dress shirt.

"Sir." She nodded, watching as Sara walked into the kitchen, presumably to check on dinner. "How are you?" She asked, hanging her jacket on a coat rack by the door.

"I'm good. You know, I do have a name. You should try using it." He told her with a smile.

"Really?" She asked, "Well, it just so happens that I have a name as well, maybe you should practise what you preach." She suggested, enjoying their exchange. The team had only been on three missions together, excluding Abydos and Chulak, and Sam and Jack had fallen into a habit of sparring matches on a regular basis. Both enjoyed them and Jack was surprised that he got on so well with Carter.

Perhaps she didn't have catastrophe written on her after all.

"Fine I'll make a deal with you, when we aren't on duty we'll lose the 'Carter' and 'Sir' thing, Okay?" He asked moving towards the door, he'd heard a taxi pull up when he was talking to Sam and at best guess, it was Daniel and Teal'c.

"Hey guys, Teal'c, you look . . ." Jack started but couldn't stop the laughter that escaped his lips from the sight of the big Jaffa wearing a cowboy hat.

"Daniel Jackson, why is O'Neill laughing?" Teal'c asked, tilting his head slightly to the side. Jack motioned for them to come in.

Sam walked into view and Teal'c bowed a hello. "Teal'c, I think what Jack means is that you look nice." she explained saying hello to Daniel with a friendly kiss on the cheek.

He held on to her a second longer. "Jack?" He asked, whispering it in her ear to prevent the others from hearing his amused question.

"Later." She muttered back, moving out of his arms. Sam and Daniel had formed an instant friendship, often spending many long hours comparing their respective fields of expertise and theories on the Stargate and it's workings.

"So, did you have any trouble?" Jack asked, remembering the General's initial scepticism about letting Teal'c off-base.

"No, not really." Daniel answered, hanging his and Teal'c's coats on the coat rack by the door.

"Dinner is almost ready, so if anyone want's a drink . . ." Sara asked, walking out from the kitchen.

"Oh, sorry, I'm being rude. Sara, this is Daniel, Teal'c and I guess that you already met *Sam*" Jack introduced, putting emphasis on Carter's name. Sam poked her tongue out at him, a gesture that he quickly returned, accompanied with a smile. An exchange that Sara didn't miss, nor did she appreciate it.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Daniel said, smiling and shaking her hand.

"You too." She returned, sincerely.

"Sara O'Neill, it is a pleasure to meet you." Teal'c said, bowing his head.

"You can call me Sara." She told him, wondering why the other three present felt the need to smile. She decided that she wasn't even going to ask.

Suddenly there was a loud 'ding' heard coming from the general direction of the kitchen. "Dinner's ready." Sara announced, moving away from the group towards the kitchen.

"Come on in and have a seat." Jack told the group that were quickly becoming his good friends.

~*+*~

It's meeting the man of my dreams,
And then meeting his beautiful wife.
And isn't it ironic?
Don't you think?

-Alanis Morisette, Ironic

~*+*~

In Sam's opinion, dinner had gone well. Sara hadn't really said much and SG-1 had tried to talk about general topics so that she didn't feel left out. After all, it wasn't like they could discuss the Goa'uld.

It probably wasn't a very appropriate topic to talk about in the presence of a civilian. Especially considering that she was Jack's wife and they didn't really want to shoot her just because she had overheard classified information.

Sam thought that the highlight of the evening was when they all saw the look of discomfort on Teal'c's face when he tried pasta. In an attempt to not offend Sara, he had told her that he'd never tried pasta before and it was a unique taste.

She sighed, SG-1 was due to ship out in a few hours and she was tired. Their mission to P3X 797 had been postponed. Someone had somehow managed to double book SG-1 so they were supposed to be on two different planets at the same time. '797 was next on their list of destinations for them to visit.

"Hey Carter, how's it going?" Jack asked, walking into her lab with two cups of steaming hot coffee.

"Good." She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I thought that you might need this." He said handing her the cup, which she accepted gratefully. "When was the last time you took a break?" He asked, looking at the equipment scattered around her lab.

"What time is it?" She asked, yawning again.

"0730." He told her after a brief glance at his watch. Sam made a mental note to get a clock put in her lab. She had a feeling that she'd be spending a fair amount of time in here.

"Then it's been . . ." she paused and thought for a minute, "A while." She finished.

"Take a break." He told her gently. "What are you doing anyway?" He asked, sipping his coffee, and sitting on a stool opposite her. Jack watched as Sam did the same, smiling gratefully at him as she felt the bitter taste of the liquid start to wake her up.

"The planetary shift distance calculator. I'm trying to make it run faster so that we can get more than three destinations a month. Just something to keep me busy. What about you?" She asked, taking another sip of the wakening beverage.

"Well, this morning I took Sara to the airport. Her father isn't doing so well, he's been sick for a while now, so she flew out to be with him." He told her.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Sam replied sincerely, gently touching his hand with her own and squeezing it lightly.

"Yeah." He mumbled, remembering how much Charlie had loved being with his Grandpa. It suddenly occurred to Jack that Sam didn't know about Charlie, and now probably wasn't the right time. He stood and stretched. "We'd better get going, we have a mission in an hour." He told her, leaving the lab.

An hour? Sam sighed, whenever she worked late, she tended to lose track of the time. One hour just seemed to blend into the next and she often found herself wondering if there really were sixty minutes in said hours or if it was just a big plot so that people would believe that there was, but really the day was passing faster than they thought.

She shook her head, and laughed quietly to herself, now she wasn't even making sense in her own mind.

~*+*~

"Where's Doctor Jackson?" Hammond asked, looking at the other three members of SG-1 as they collapsed onto the bottom of the ramp.

"He did not make it . . ." Teal'c started, only to stop as he found that his lungs needed more oxygen than he was getting.

"Daniel's dead sir." Jack told his superior. Janet walked over to them and checked their pupils. Teal'c, Sam and Jack vaguely heard her mention something about shock, but she seemed to be so far away and whatever it was she was saying might as well have been French for all they understood.

Jack felt his legs moving towards the infirmary, with the help of one of the airmen, but it felt like he was having an out of body experience. He knew he was moving, but in his mind, he was still back on the planet watching Daniel fall into the volcanic pit of his death.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light shining directly into his eyes. It felt like a thousand fluorescent lights all being turned on at once while he was staring at them. "God! What was that?" He asked, rubbing his eyes and finally realising that he was sitting on one of the beds in the infirmary dressed in a blue surgical gown.

"It's a pen light." Janet informed him. "I'm sorry Colonel, you must be photosensitive." She apologised.

Jack just wished that he could get the image of Daniel's death out of his mind.

~*+*~

Sara paid the cab driver and grabbed her bags from the boot. She hadn't expected Jack to be home yet. She didn't know where he was, didn't really expect to ever find out, but he'd said that he would be a week, give or take a few days.

She wasn't mad. Sara had learnt to deal with Jack's absences over the years that they'd been married. Being in the military was part of who he was, and it would be selfish of her to ask him to give that up. It would be like asking him to cut off a limb. At least these days he was only ever gone for a week or so, as opposed to months at a time, which was how things were before Charlie died.

She unlocked the front door of their house and dropped her keys on the front table, with her bag still in hand and walked down the two steps of the doorway into the lounge room.

When she got home, she'd expected to find the house pitch black and silent. Instead, the house was pitch black but she could hear the sound of Jack's quiet snoring coming from the sofa, and she walked quietly over to the large piece of furniture to wake her husband, quietly flicking on the lamp at the end of the sofa before she woke him from his slumber.

What she hadn't expected to see was the man she loved snuggled up on the couch with Sam, the afghan from the back of the lounge covering them. Sam had her head on Jack's chest, and their arms were around each other with their fingers entwined and resting lightly on his chest.

Sara saw red.

She knew there was a reason why she didn't like Sam. The woman had seemed way too comfortable with her husband for someone whom she had only known for a month and a half.

She dropped her suitcase loudly enough to wake the sleeping couple.

Sam moaned and stretched her legs a little, trying to rid the stiffness that had accumulated in them from being draped over Jack's body for god knows how long. "What time is it?" She mumbled into his chest, trying to rub the sleep out of them. What did it matter anyway? They were probably still red and puffy from all the crying she had done tonight.

Jack looked up towards the wall behind the couch to try and see the clock. Instead, all he saw was his wife standing there with a dumbfounded expression on her face, which quickly turned into pure anger. "Sara?" he asked. Sam turned over to see if Jack was still half asleep or if his wife really was standing there.

Sam's eyes went wide at the sight of the angry woman standing behind them with her arms hanging uselessly by her side.

Sara honestly didn't have a clue what to say. For the first time in her life, she was truly speechless. So, instead of thinking her statement through like any sane person would, she said the first thing that sprang to mind. "The bed would have been more comfortable."

For some reason, she just knew that she was going to regret saying that for a very long time to come. Of all the idiotic things that could have possibly come out of her mouth, she had to pick something as stupid as that.

"I'll just go and use the bathroom." Sam stuttered, pointing towards the hall. She scrambled off Jack and all but ran towards the bathroom, and shut the door quickly, letting her face fall into her hands as she began to cry again.

Why did she have to lose it when she was at the wake? Why couldn't she have waited for another hour or so until she was in the safety of her own home where she could cry in peace? Why did Jack have to find her sobbing in his bathroom? Why did she let him hold her on the couch when she needed comfort the most?

Why?

Jack looked at his wife, who was breathing very fast and he was sure that there was steam coming out of her ears. "How's your Dad?" He asked, cringing. This time could have been better spent trying to explain to her what had happened.

"He's going to be fine." She said calmly. Jack was certain that that serene air surrounding her wouldn't last. It never did. "What, no kiss hello?" She asked bitterly.

"I thought that you might bring up the scissors thing again." He joked lamely, referring to when Hammond had sent his puppy dogs to fetch him to come back to the Stargate program.

"Probably would have." Sara replied, unable to stop her teeth from grinding together, making what she said sound very hostile. "I'm still considering that as an option."

"I can explain." He told her.

"Really?" She asked, sceptically. "Am I going to believe you or should I just go and get the scissors now, and save myself some time?" She suggested, sarcasm lacing her tone. Jack knew that tone, he'd used it many times before. Especially with superior officers who had their heads up their asses. Sometimes he wondered how the hell he even made Colonel in the first place.

Sam sat on the edge of the bath, trying to determine if the yelling had started yet. She listened for a second and figured that it hadn't, so now would be a good time for her to make her escape. It was a shame that she couldn't open the window and just flee.

She tentatively opened the door and stepped outside, turning off the light as she left.

As Sam walked down the hallway, she felt more apprehensive than she ever had in her life. When she finally emerged out of the hall after what had seemed like forever, she could see Jack and Sara standing on opposite sides of the lounge that she had, not minutes before, been sleeping on.

The couple were standing there, not talking, and appeared to be having a staring match. Sam really wished that she wasn't here. Why couldn't the Earth open up and swallow her when she wanted it to?

"Um . . ." She started, trying to quietly clear her throat, in the hopes of finding her voice. Instead, she settled for swallowing hard. "I . . . um, should go." She said slowly, afraid that the words wouldn't come out sounding like they had in her mind.

"Wouldn't you like to stay for coffee?" Sara asked, bitter and sarcastic enough to make Sam flinch.

"Sara . . ." Jack warned, desperately trying not to get Sam dragged into this any further than she already was.

"No, really. We should do this again some time. I always loved sleepovers." Sara spat out at Sam.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow, so that we can . . .um. . ." She started, not really wanting to say it and make the situation harder than it already was.

"Yeah. I'll see you at 0900 tomorrow." Jack nodded, understanding her discomfort at not only the present situation, but what had happened in the last few days. He knew that Sam was reluctant to mention their task of packing up Daniel's apartment the following morning, and he could only imagine how guilty that made them look to his wife.

Sam let herself out and the house fell silent. While Sam was walking to her car, Sara and Jack were staring at each other, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't be misinterpreted and turned into ammunition.

"So . . ." Sara started, trying to determine what Sam's last comment had meant, aware that Jack was looking at the door that Sam had just walked out of. "You had an explanation?" She asked, trying to get her husband's attention.

Two words.

Two words were all that he needed to explain everything that had just happened, and what Sara had walked in on. "Daniel died." He said simply, and laid back down on the couch to try and get some sleep.

~*+*~

Sara was mortified.

Truly and utterly mortified. She had just won the prize for being the world's biggest ass, and the way she had treated Jack, and Sam for that matter, was inexcusable.

She rolled over in bed and looked at the cold and empty side of the mattress where Jack should be. She'd tried to talk to him, and apologise profoundly, but Jack had waved her off and said that he was tired.

She should have trusted him, and she should have listened to what he had to say before she started to rip him to shreds. Okay, so granted, she hadn't exactly ripped him to shreds, but her insensitivity was immature and she was acting as though she had something to be jealous of.

She scrubbed her hands over her face and sighed. There was no way that sleep was going to come easily tonight. Tomorrow morning she had some serious grovelling to do, and even then, she had the feeling that she'd still feel guilty for a while.

God, what was she going to say to Sam?

~*+*~

Pain.

That's all that Sam could feel. She was vaguely aware that there was someone who was talking to her, telling her to stay awake. But all she wanted to do was go to sleep.

There were lots of noises all around her and it felt like they were all invading her brain at once. Why wouldn't someone make the noises stop? She felt like screaming, but all she could feel was the pain.

Pain.

~*+*~

There was an annoying noise trying to wake him from his sleep.

Jack sighed and tried to bury his head further into the pillows. He was tired and exhausted and all he wanted to do was sleep. He was worried about Sam, and he just wanted to wake up tomorrow and find that this was all some really strange dream.

There was that noise again.

The very small portion of Jack's brain that was awake kept telling him that it was the phone and that he should get his butt in gear and answer the damn thing and then the noise would stop and he could go back to sleep.

He reached over his head to try and find the offending noise maker that was disturbing his sleep. "O'Neill." He mumbled into the receiver.

"Is this Colonel Jack O'Neill?" A female voice asked him.

"Yes." He muttered, still very much asleep.

"This is Nurse Bates from Colorado Medical. I'm calling in regards to Samantha Carter." The woman, Bates, told him.

It took a moment for Jack to register what the woman was saying, and as soon as his brain processed Sam's name, he sat straight up, now very much awake. "Sam?" He asked, fear suddenly clutching him.

"Yes, there was an accident and Miss Carter was injured. You were listed as one of the people to call." She told him.

"I'll be there a.s.a.p." He told her, hanging up the phone and bursting upstairs to get his jacket and keys, for once thankful that he hadn't bothered to take off his clothes from the day before.

Sara rolled over as she heard the door to her and Jack's room open. She looked around and noticed that he was running around like a headless chicken. "Jack?" She muttered.

"There's been an accident. Sam was hurt. I'll call you when I know more." He told her curtly, running out of the room like a bat out of hell. Sara sat up and felt guilt wash over her.

This was all her fault.

~*+*~

Jack looked around frantically. He had no idea where he was going, and he was too panic stricken to think of any semi-intelligent solution to his location problem.

Black ops training finally kicked in and he calmed down enough find the reception desk.

"I'm looking for Samantha Carter." He told the nurse at the desk.

"And you are . . .?" She asked, eyeing the man suspiciously.

"I'm Jack O'Neill. Nurse Bates called me, is Sam here or not?" He asked, growing frustrated. He wanted to see her and he wanted to see her now.

"Of course, I called you." The woman told him, standing and moving from behind the desk to escort Jack to Sam's room. The nurse paused as she reached a door not far from the reception desk. "A doctor will be here shortly to explain what happened." She told him gently, leaving him alone to look at the door and wonder what lay beyond.

He opened the door, attempting to be as quiet as possible. Jack sucked in a sharp breath when he saw Sam. She had a bandage wrapped around her head that had a tiny stain of blood on it. She was hooked up to a heart monitor, and if you asked him, the white sheets of the hospital bed looked like they had more colour in them than she did.

He pulled up a chair and sat down next to her, holding her hand in his and he immediately noticed that she was cold and clammy. "You have to get better Sammy." He whispered.

The door behind him opened and Jack turned to see a man in a white doctor's coat enter the room carrying a chart and walking over towards him.

"Mr O'Neill?" The man asked. Jack nodded. "I'm Dr Windsor," He introduced, shaking Jack's hand. "Has someone explained to you what happened?" He asked.

"No, the nurse said that you would." He told him, looking back to Sam and wiping a loose strand of hair away from her bandaged head.

The doctor pulled up a chair and spoke quietly. "As far as we can tell, she was driving, and either something distracted her or she was upset." The doctor started, and Jack felt an instant and unstoppable stream of rage run towards Sara.

"She was crying. One of our best friends recently died." He told the Doctor.

"I'm sorry." He told Jack sincerely. "She hit a pole. Now, I know that it looks bad but she's very lucky. Most people don't survive something like that. She has a concussion, two broken ribs and because of the angle she struck the pole there were some problems with her spine."

"Her spine?" Jack repeated, stunned beyond words. Was she paralysed?

"Yes. She is also very lucky that she isn't a paraplegic. She woke up for a few minutes after she was brought in, and was calling for a Jack, we assume that it's you. She tried to get up, but was in a considerable amount of pain". The doctor told Jack, now remembering that this was one of the worst parts of the job.

"How long has she been here?" Jack asked.

"Almost two hours. Our main priority is to make sure that the patient survives, then we start to find out who to call."

"I understand." Jack muttered, his thumb absently stroking Sam's hand.

"As far as we can tell from the CT scans, her spine is inflamed and it's putting a great deal of pressure on her Sciatic nerve. Now, this won't cause her to loose the ability to walk, but it will seriously limit her mobility. It will probably cause her a great deal of pain to do anything and we'll get her started on physiotherapy as soon as possible. Now, she isn't in a coma, just sleeping. It shouldn't be long before she wakes up. When she does, call the nurse if she's in any pain or if you need anything." Dr Windsor stood and put the chair back in it's place.

"Thank you very much Doc." Jack said, shaking the other man's hand again.

"Your welcome. Ah, one more thing, does she live alone?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah." Jack nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Does she have any stairs in her home?" He asked, glancing down at Sam's chart that he held in his hand. Jack nodded again. "Then I suggest that she move in with a friend or relative. Like I said, mobility is going to be a problem and judging by previous cases that I've seen, stairs will be virtually impossible. She'll have a limp for a while, but it should get better over time." He told Jack watching as concern crossed his features.

"Sure. She can move in with me." He said and watched as the doctor left the room. He kept his eyes focused on the door for a while before slowly turning back to the bed to look into the large blue eyes of Sam, who was staring at him.

"Does she get a say in these new living arrangements?" Sam asked playfully, her voice still a little croaky.

"No." He said, shaking his head and aware that he had an unbelievably goofy grin on his face.

"What about Sara? Surely she wouldn't be too happy about you just deciding that you're going to have a house guest?" Sam asked, really not wanting to go back there.

"Don't worry about that. How long have you been awake?" He asked.

"Since you came in. I wanted to hear what the Doctor had to say. And by the way, don't call me Sammy." She said, smiling.

"Whatever you say Sammy. How do you feel?" He asked. Sam sighed.

"Like I tried to hug a pole with my car."  She joked, laughing. Suddenly she winced as the laughter caused her ribs to shake and cause great pain. "Ooh, okay. No laughing." She decided.

"Then you're in the company of the wrong person, I'll go get Teal'c." He smiled.

"Daniel." She murmured.

"Sam? Don't you remember what happened?" He asked, concerned about any amnesia that she may have got because of the crash. He looked at her with worried eyes.

"No, Daniel." She muttered, nodding towards the door.

Jack turned to see Daniel, his wife, Teal'c and Hammond standing at the door to her room. "Danny?" He asked, wondering if he was hallucinating.

"Hey, I'll explain later." Daniel told them, discreetly gesturing towards Sara, a gesture which thankfully the person in question missed. Jack nodded, understanding what he meant.

~*+*~

Jack walked out of the room with his wife to let the others have a moment with Sam. He turned to Sara, his thoughts still resting with the woman laying in a hospital bed.

"What happened?" Sara asked quietly, still worried that the whole thing was her fault, self absorbed as that feeling may be, she couldn't help it.

"She was crying while she was driving and she hit a pole." Jack told her, and then briefly explained what the doctor had told him, wanting to get back to Sam as quickly as possible.

"Oh god!" Sara exclaimed as she listened to her husband describe what had happened and what the side effects were. "She can still walk, can't she?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, but it's going to be a problem. She has to move in with someone who can hep her get around. Her house has stairs and I get the feeling that she may need to be checked on every now and then. Without her knowing about it. She'd probably try and break my arm if she knew that she was being looked after." Jack told her, just about to bring up his invitation to come and stay with them, wondering how Sara would react to that.

"She can move in with us." Sara immediately announced. "It's my fault that she was that upset, so I think that it's the least we can do." She told him.

"Thanks. Look, why don't you go home and get some sleep and then make up the guest bed. I'll stick around here for a while and see when they'll release her." He told his wife, surprised by the admittance that it probably was partially her fault.

"Yeah. Tell her I said 'bye, and I hope she can leave here soon, okay?" Sara asked. Jack nodded and turned to go back into the room. "Jack." Sara said, just as he was about to enter Sam's room. He turned to look at his wife. "I am sorry." she told him. Jack didn't need to hear the words, he could tell from the expression on her face how sorry she was.

"I know." He said, lightly touching her arm.

Sara watched as her husband walked back into the hospital room before she turned and headed out towards her car.

~*+*~

"So, tell us oh great escape artist, just how did you manage to come back from being dead?" Jack asked, once again taking the seat next to Sam's bed.

"It was a false memory that you had, of me dying. Teal'c figured it out and he and SG-2 came and found me. There was a laboratory underwater, and if I'd been there under better circumstances then it would have be very interesting." He told them, glad to be back on dry land and with his friends once more.

"I'm glad you're back Daniel." Sam smiled at him, a yawn escaping her lips.

"We should take our leave of you and let your injuries heal." Teal'c announced, and everyone except Jack said their goodbye's and promised to visit later that day, before leaving the hospital to head back to base.

"Aren't you going home?" Sam asked, once everyone had left.

"Is that a hint?" Jack joked.

"No, I just thought that you'd want to get home." She told him.

"Nah, I told Sara that I was going to look after all the paperwork, and at the very least with all of my training you'd think that I could find a way to bust you out of here. Do you know when you'll be able to come home?" He asked and Sam shook her head. She was asleep, or that place that's very close to it, so Jack decided to go and find a doctor to see when she could be released. "Sleep well Sammy." He whispered, lightly stroking her forehead before walking to the door.

Just before he left the room, Jack could have sworn that he heard "Don't call me Sammy." coming from the bed. He smiled before exiting the room and closing the door quietly before going in search of Dr Windsor.

~*+*~

"Are you almost ready to come home?" Jack asked, walking into Sam's hospital room.

"After a week of nothing but hospital food that I'm pretty sure is more poisonous than the mess hall on base, yeah. I'm fairly certain that I'm ready to leave." She joked.

"You know how they're letting you go a few days early?" He asked.

"You mean because you threatened to break Dr Windsor's arm." She taunted, smiling.

"Well, that too. Anyway, they're only letting you go on the condition that you use this thing for a few days." He told her, bringing in a wheelchair. Sam sighed, she'd been expecting this to come up for some time now. She shrugged, if it meant getting out of this place then she'd crawl if they asked her to.

"Let's get out of here before they change their minds about letting me go." She said, not bothering to protest when Jack picked her up and put her in the chair with her bag resting on her lap.

They walked along the corridor of the hospital, with Jack pushing Sam in her wheelchair.

Sara had come and visited Sam twice in the week that she'd been stuck in here. They found out that they actually did have a lot in common and Sam wasn't as nervous about moving in with the O'Neill's as she first was when Jack all but told her that she had no choice in the matter.

"Sara wanted me to ask you what you felt like for dinner." Jack told her as he helped her into the front seat of his jeep.

Jack walked around to his side of the car and put the now folded wheelchair on the back seat before getting in the driver's side and starting the car.

Sam stared out the window not really seeing anything. "So, any thoughts on dinner?" He asked, growing concerned about her silence. "Sam?" he tried again.

Sam jumped. She hadn't even realised that he was in the car yet. "Did you say something?" She asked, still distracted.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"Yeah, it's just . . ." Sam started, but obviously decided not to finish voicing her thoughts, because she returned to staring out the window

"What is it?" Jack asked gently, keeping both eyes on the road while trying to look at Sam, not something that he managed to achieve.

"The last time that I was in a car . . ." She trailed off, and without a conscious thought to his wife or what people might think, Jack reached over and grabbed Sam's hand and held onto it until he reached his driveway.

She only turned briefly to look at him, just long enough to smile gratefully at him for the silent support that he was offering. She would never admit it, but Sam was enjoying the comfort.

~*+*~

When she first arrived, Sam couldn't help but notice how beautiful the guestroom was. It had a double bed in the centre of the room, with bedside tables on either side. There was a built-in closet, with mirrored doors making the room feel larger than it really was. And there was a dressing table, with six big draws, by the window

It was nice.

Daniel had gone over to her house a few days earlier and got some of her personal things and some clothes. At her request, of course. So now the room essentially looked like it was in her house, the only difference being the lack of ensuite. But Sam could live with that.

On the right of her room was the bathroom, which was just for her because there was an ensuite in the master bedroom, and across the hall was Sara and Jack's room. There were only two steps in the entire place so it was ideal for Sam's current condition.

After repeatedly telling Jack and Sara that she was fine, she was glad for the chance to be able to just collapse into bed. Luckily she'd had a shower at the hospital, where she could get help from someone who didn't know her. Jack kept insisting on carrying her everywhere for a while, and she didn't think that having him carry her into a shower would be a wise move. Not that she didn't trust him, but there are some things that Sam felt she should keep to herself.

The pain in her head and ribs were nothing compared to what she felt in her leg, hip and back. The constant throbbing and pulsating was becoming almost . . .annoying. It was driving her crazy, and after a quick look at the clock which told her that it was after eleven, she realised that she'd slept all day.

There was a glass of water by her bed, but she wanted to go and take a few of the pain killers that Dr Windsor has given her. Which she'd typically forgot about and left in the kitchen. Sighing, she attempted to get up without too much pain.

Not an easy thing to do, but eventually Sam found that if she kind of dragged her leg along behind her and held on to anything in sight than she'd probably be able to make it to the kitchen and back without too many problems.

~*+*~

Bookends.

That's how they were sleeping. And in the two nights that Jack had been home since Sam had her accident, they had slept like this too. There was no contact, and it was like there was a wall separating them, and Jack seemed to be in no hurry to rectify the situation.

Suddenly Sara heard a loud bang coming from the general direction of the lounge room. She reached over and shook Jack's shoulder until she finally managed to rouse him from sleep.

"What's wrong?" He asked, immediately worried.

"I think I heard a noise coming from the lounge room." She told him, momentarily forgetting that Sam was here and that there was a big chance that she was trying to get something from the kitchen.

"I'll be back here in a minute." He told his wife, standing and walking out of the room and gently closing the door behind him.

Jack's first stop was to check on Sam, and when he opened the door to her room and saw that she wasn't there, he began to worry. Quietly walking down the hall in nothing but his sweat pants, he rounded the corner and saw Sam lying on the floor of the lounge room, huddled up in the foetal position.

"Sam!" He cried, running to her side faster than he thought his legs would carry him. "What are you doing out of bed, Sammy?" He asked her, lightly stroking back the blonde strands of her hair that never seemed to stay in place.

"I wanted some pain killers." she told him, smiling through her pain induced tears. "And don't call me Sammy." She told him, knowing that he would just pretend he didn't hear what she said and continue to call her that anyway.

"Let's get you back to bed and then we'll do the medication thing, okay?" He offered as a compromise.

"Fine." She nodded, letting him pick her up and carry her back to her room.

After making sure that Sam was propped up with pillows that had all been thoroughly fluffed, Jack went to get the pain killers and tell Sara what happened.

"So were we being robbed?" Sara asked, hearing her husband enter their room.

"No," He smiled, shaking his head slightly. "Sam tried to walk down to the kitchen to get the pain med's, and I'm pretty sure that she collapsed. I'll ask her in a minute." He told her.

"You should sit with her until she falls asleep." Sara told him.

"Are you sure?" He asked, wondering why his wife was being so considerate. Not that she wasn't a generous person, but it had been obvious to all that Sara didn't really like Sam all that much.

"It's the right thing to do Jack. And besides, if you didn't, then you'd just lay here all night wondering if she's alright." Sara shrugged. Jack nodded, she had a point. He was still amazed that he'd been able to get to sleep the first time.

Jack walked over and kissed his wife on the forehead. "You're a good person." He told her.

Sara smiled. "So are you Jack." He nodded and walked out of the room. That was the first display of affection that had passed between them in over a week, maybe having Sam here was a good thing for all of them.

Jack walked back into Sam's room, bottle of pills in hand. She looked up and smiled at him. Instead of walking over to her side of the bed, as Sam had anticipated, he walked over to the unoccupied half and sat down with his legs outstretched.

He handed her the bottle and waited until Sam had swallowed the tablets before he began to speak. "You should have called me." He told her, gently scolding.

"I thought that I could do it, and besides, you've spent the last three days straight sleeping in a hospital chair." She told him, only now noticing his lack of shirt. Sam knew that she was getting way too attached to this man, and yet she found herself not caring.

"That doesn't mean anything. You need to get better so that we can go back to work." He told her, shivering slightly as he realised that he didn't have a top on.

Sam pulled the blanket off from the end of the bed and handed it to him. "It's nice to know that they miss me at work . . .hey, what do you mean we?" She asked once her brain finally realised that his statement was plural.

"General Hammond gave me some time off to help look after you." Jack said, snuggling into the warm comforts of the blanket.

"I don't need looking after." She protested, but knew that there was no point in even trying to argue with him.

"Yes you do, Sammy." He told her, ignoring her annoyed look at her new nickname. "What happened tonight?" He asked, letting himself move a little closer to her on the bed.

"I was in the living room and suddenly my leg gave way and I hit the ground, go figure. The position you found me in seems to be the only comfortable position for me to be in at the moment." She told him.

"You should get some sleep." He told her, watching as she closed her eyes and then he followed her example and closed his eyes too.

~*+*~

Sara woke up and quickly realised that she was alone in the bed, and that it was after eight O'clock. She rolled over and got out of bed. She then heard the doorbell chime and realised that the ringing of the bell was what had disturbed her sleep.

She sighed as she walked out of her room and down the hall towards the door. She looked at the couch to see if Jack was there, and when she saw that it was empty she shook her head and opened the door to be greeted by Daniel.

"Hi Sara." He said, she gestured for him to come in, her brain screaming for him to leave so that she could go back to bed.

"Daniel. How are you feeling?" She asked, referring to the whole 'dead' thing that he went through. Not that she knew the full story, and probably never would.

"I'm good. Is Sam up yet?" He asked, looking around the living room for signs of other people awake.

"Yeah." Sara lied, "I'll just go get her." She smiled and headed back towards Sam's room, expecting to see her husband sitting in a chair by her bed asleep. After all, that's what he'd done for five days.

The chair thing was not quite what she got.

They were snuggled up on the bed together, sleeping peacefully. Sara couldn't help the pang of jealousy that ran through her. She and Jack had hardly touched each other for the past week, and now here he was, cuddled up, together with Sam.

Sara sniffed a bit and blinked back the tears. Her heart jumped into her throat and she walked over and shook Jack's shoulder. He jumped awake, and consequently woke Sam.

"We fell asleep, didn't we?" Sam asked, cringing at the look gracing Sara's features.

She nodded, not really trusting her own voice at the moment. Finally, Sara realised that she was staring and she would have to eventually speak. "Daniel's here." She told them, and quickly walked out of the room.

Sam looked at Jack with an apologetic expression in her eyes. Jack read the look and was quick to reassure her. "It's not your fault." He told her, getting out of bed, but not before briefly wondering how he'd managed to get under the covers.

Sam sat up and put her long satin robe on, and got up and into the wheelchair, in no hurry to repeat the previous night's fiasco.

Jack walked out of the room and when he came back he was wearing a shirt. He walked behind Sam and started to wheel her towards the living room.

"Daniel." She smiled as he walked over and kissed her cheek. "How are you?" Sam asked, accepting Jack's help to get her out of the chair and onto the couch. Daniel and Sara followed suit and sat in the chairs next to the couch.

"I'm fine, keeping busy. What about you?" He asked, concerned for his friend.

"I'm good. I have my first physiotherapy appointment tomorrow, so I should know more by then." She told him, accepting the mug of coffee that Jack gave her gratefully. He gave Daniel and Sara a cup too, and noticed that his wife refused to return the smile that he offered.

When the phone rang, Sara immediately took the opportunity to leave the room to answer it, leaving the three friends time to talk alone.

"Actually," Daniel started, taking a sip of his drink before continuing. "Teal'c and I are going on a mission with SG-2 and SG-3 in a few days." He told them, watching the door for any signs of Sara returning.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked, also sipping her drink.

"P3X 797, the one that we were supposed to go to." He replied.

"Good luck." Sam said, smiling ruefully. She wished that she'd never had the stupid accident so that she could go with them.

"Don't worry Sammy, we'll be back there soon enough." Jack told her, grinning at the use of her new name.

Daniel shook his head. They were getting very close and he couldn't help but feel sorry for Sara. It must be hard for her, seeing a bond develop between her husband and another woman, even though he was sure that Jack would never cheat on her, you didn't need to be intimate with someone for it to classify as infidelity.

"I'd better get going, I still have some things to look at in my office." He told them, noticing that Sara had walked back into the room.

"Bye Daniel, thanks for stopping by. Good luck with the stuff you have to do." Sam told him, also noticing Sara's presence in the room.

After Daniel had said his goodbye's to Jack and Sara, Sam decided that she would take a bath to attempt to rid her of the aches and pains that her body was currently experiencing.

Jack lifted her into the chair and pushed her into the bathroom, and after making sure that she would be alright to do the rest herself, he left, closing the door behind him.

~*+*~

Sara stood at the sink, washing up the dishes from the previous night's dinner. She didn't hear Jack enter the room, and she jumped when he lightly touched her shoulder.

"Hey." He said, picking up a tea towel to help with the washing up. "I'm sorry about last night." He told her gently, waiting for the inevitable fight to come.

"It's fine. I understand." She told him, shrugging.

"You do?" He asked, shocked.

"Yeah." Sara smiled, "You did the right thing by staying with her Jack. I'm not upset." She lied, still unable to get the image of them cuddled up together out of her mind. "You should go and make sure Sam's okay." She told him.

Sara watched as her husband practically ran out of the room to check on Sam. She wasn't worried about their relationship, she knew that he'd never cheat on her, but something about Sam and Jack's friendship bothered her.

She just couldn't put her finger on it.

~*+*~

Jack showed his and Sam's pass to the security guard at the front gate. He'd protested when Sam had said that she wanted to come in to work, it had only been a few days since she came back from hospital. Physiotherapy seemed to be going well and Tony, her physiotherapist, had given her some exercises to do until he saw her next.

Sam had taken the liberty of ditching her wheelchair, and opted to start using crutches instead. Tony agreed, but was eager to get her off them as soon as possible, in an attempt to keep her from becoming too dependent on them.

"Dr Carter." The guard acknowledged, "It's good to see you." He smiled.

"Thanks." She replied, smiling in return. She shouldn't be surprised that most of the people on base knew about the accident already. The SGC had only been re-opened for about two months, but the base's grapevine was almost fully established.

Jack drove into the car park and went around to help Sam get out of the car. "So, I know why I needed to come here, why did you?" Jack asked, swiping his ID card in the slot so that the elevator doors would open.

"I wanted to get my lap top and a few things from my quarters." She told him, hopping into the elevator cart.

When the elevator reached level 28, they both stepped out. Jack turned to Sam. "I have to go to my office and the locker room, so I'll meet you in your lab, okay?" He asked.

Sam nodded. "Sure." She smiled.

She started on the path towards her lab. It wasn't that far away, and she was confident that she wouldn't have any difficulties making the short journey.

She was halfway to her destination when she saw two guards practically dragging Lt. Johnson towards the elevator. He looked up and saw her.

Sam's eyes went wide as the young Lieutenant broke free of the two airmen and ran at her. He pounced on her and she hit the ground with a loud thud. It took a moment for the guards to act, but they managed to drag him off her.

One of the nearby airmen ran over to Sam and helped her up. "What was that?" She asked readjusting her clothes.

"I'm not sure ma'am." He answered honestly. "Are you alright?" He asked, picking up her crutches and handing them to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks." She told him, resuming her journey to her lab.

Sam stopped. She suddenly had an overwhelming urge to find Jack. She threw down her crutches and ran towards the locker room, determined to find him.

~*+*~

Jack placed the personal items that he needed into a bag. He put the last item, his favourite razor, into the bag and closed the door. When he turned, Sam was standing next to his locker dressed in a tank top and the jeans that she'd had on. She was standing without the benefit of the crutches, which didn't go unnoticed by Jack despite her lack of top or sweater.

"Carter?" He asked, well aware that they weren't alone in the room.

Sam didn't respond, she just grabbed him and kissed him roughly. Jack was surprised to say the least, but when his hands went to push her away, she roughly threw him down onto one of the benches and resumed kissing him.

She pulled back for some air, and he gasped. "Carter! What's gotten into you?" He asked, fighting for air.

"I want you." She told him, grinding her hips into his and resumed kissing him.

"Why? Carter, I didn't know." He murmured, with her lips still firmly pressed to his.

"Don't you want me?" She asked, pulling back to breathe again and try to find an easier angle to resume kissing him.

"No!" He cried, brief images of his wife filling his mind. "Not like this." He ammended as she continued to roughly kiss him.

Sam moved from his lips to his neck and bit down hard enough to draw blood. She removed her lips from his neck long enough to bite down on her own wrist and draw blood, once she'd done that, she returned her lips to his.

She brought her wrist up to his neck and mixed their blood, and she knew that Jack would be hers.

Jack knew that he should fight her off. He was married and she wasn't strong enough for this, but as he felt some of her blood mix with his, he knew that he couldn't stop himself even if he wanted to.

~*+*~

We're gonna love one another 'till morning comes
Seek the sweet salvation for what we've done
We'll give up resisting one by one
One by one
He gives a new kind of meaning to what I am
I know that I could never love any other man
One of these days you'll understand
Understand

-One by one, Cher

~*+*~

Pain.

That was all Sam could feel as she felt herself regaining consciousness. Why did she hurt so much? And where was she?

"Hey." A voice said softly. Sam opened one eye and saw the base doctor, Janet Fraser, looking down at her.

"It's bright." she muttered, closing her eyes against the blinding light obstructing her vision.

"I know, how do you feel?" Fraser asked, checking Sam's vitals.

"Like I tried to hug another pole with my car." Sam joked lamely, finally managing to open her eyes without too much trouble.

"Well that's to be expected. Do you remember what happened?" she asked, smiling at the woman.

"I remember coming to base to get my lap top. I was on my way to my lab and Johnson jumped on me, everything after that is a little hazy." Sam said, confusion evident on her face.

"That explains it then." Janet murmured, more to herself than to Sam.

"That explains what?" Sam asked, wondering why the doctor looked as though she'd had an epiphany.

"When SG-2 returned from P3X 797, they were infected with some kind of virus. It fed on histamines and when we gave each infected victim a strong dose of anti-histamines they went back to normal." Janet told her, sitting in the chair next to her bed.

"Normal?" Sam asked, wondering exactly what the side effects of this virus were. God only knows what people had done while they were infected.

"It released a primal instinct in everyone except Teal'c, Daniel and I. Teal'c had his symbiont to protect him and Daniel and I both have strong allergies, so we both take the same anti-histamines on a daily basis. SG-2 have gone back to the planet to give all of the touched men and woman a tranquilliser shot filled with the antidote. Everyone else has recovered, except for you. I think that when you were touched, you must have banged your leg out of place and that's why you were out cold for longer than everyone else." Janet told her, waiting for the obvious question to come.

"What did I do?" Sam asked, cringing at the thought of some of the possible things that she could have done. "Did I hurt anyone?" she asked.

"You bit Colonel O'Neill on the neck, but he'll be fine." Janet told her, knowing that with that small piece of information, Sam could figure out the rest.

"I think I remember now." she told the doctor, creasing her brow in concentration. "I was in the locker room, and I was trying to get him to . . .um . . ." she trailed off in embarrassment. Janet nodded and smiled knowingly. "Anyway, when he wouldn't co-operate, I bit his neck and then my wrist. I think that I mixed our blood." she told her.

"You did." Janet confirmed. "You were trying to get him infected too, so that he would . . .participate in your plans." she said tactfully. "You didn't need to though. The virus was spread through touch, which is how you became infected. Johnson got it from one of the natives and then he passed it on to you, and the airmen that subdued him. After he infected you three, more people became infected and that's all it took." She shrugged, waiting for Sam to realise that she had succeeded in doing what she wanted to do.

"We did, didn't we?" She finally asked, closing her eyes again in shame.

"Yeah." Janet nodded, not really sure what to say.

"Is he alright?" Sam asked, looking around the infirmary.

"He's fine." A very masculine voice replied from the doorway. Sam looked over to see Jack standing at the entrance to her room. He looked well, except for the fact that he had scratch marks down the side of his neck and he had obviously had stitches put in on his forehead.

"I'll leave you two alone." Janet muttered, leaving the room. Sam could kill the doctor for leaving her. She wasn't sure that she could face Jack after what she'd done. Not to mention the fact that she was currently living with him and his wife.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, cautiously walking to sit where Janet had just been.

"Um . . .okay, I guess." She replied, finally looking at his neck where he not only had scratch marks, but also the bite mark that she'd left on him. "Are you okay?" She asked, indicating towards his neck.

He gingerly touched his neck, and winced at the pain. "Yeah, I'll be fine."  He replied.

They both broke eye contact then. Jack sighed, this conversation wasn't exactly going very well.

"Wow, this is awkward." She joked, making him smile.

"Yeah," he agreed, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair. "Do you remember what happened?" He asked, not sure if he should bring it up or not.

"Ah . . .yeah. I do." She replied, biting her lower lip. Sam cleared her throat, what could she say to him? "I'm sorry about what I did." She told him, looking genuinely apologetic.

"It wasn't your fault. Doc Fraser explained the touched virus thing to me. You couldn't have stopped yourself, neither could I." He told her, trying to be careful with the words he chose. "Did I . . .hurt you?" He asked, worried about what they had done. There was no way that she was strong enough to come out of this .. .situation unscarred. He had at least three injuries to show for it, and he had no idea what he was going to tell Sara.

"Um . . .no, not really." she lied, ignoring the pain in her side. The memories of what had happened making her recall that at some point during their encounter they had rolled off the bench and into a set of lockers. "I think that we pretty much did mutual damage." She said, giving him a small smile.

"Yeah . . ." He trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.

"I think that it would probably be best if I moved out." she told him, knowing that continuing to live with him would be virtually impossible. Sam was now regretting giving up her house. Even though it had stairs in it, anything would be better than her current living status.

"You don't have to do that." He replied honestly. Despite what had happened, he still liked the idea of her living with him. And Sara, his brain supplied.

"Jack, we slept together. Things are really weird and uncomfortable now, do you honestly think that things will go back to the way they were?" She asked quietly, knowing that despite the fact she was in a private room, there were still guards outside the door that could easily hear their conversation.

"Yes I do. Sam, we can put this behind us. I know we can." He tried, desperately wanting her to stay.

She sighed heavily. "What are you going to tell Sara?" She asked, hating to be the one to bring it up. Sam really wanted to stay with the O'Neill's, but if they were going to put this behind them, then Sara factored into their 'put it all behind us' plan.

"How much of the truth do you think I could tell her?" He asked, thinking mostly of security and his wife's feelings.

"Not much." Sam told him.

"So, I'll tell her that most of it's classified, but we were attacked." He tried.

After a moment of thought, Sam finally relented. "Alright. But if things get really weird then I'm gone." She told him, offering a compromise.

"If things get that weird, then I'll help you look for a place with no stairs myself." He agreed, hoping that it didn't come to that.

Sam nodded. "We're going to be okay then?" She asked, swallowing hard.

Jack took her hand in his and smiled. "We're going to be just fine Sammy." He told her, glad that she was going to stay and enjoying the look that graced her features at the use of her nickname.

"Don't call me Sammy." She ordered, closing her eyes as sleep and exhaustion overtook her once more.

Janet quietly closed the door behind her, glad that they had sorted this thing out. Even though they weren't the only ones that had said, or done, things that they weren't proud of, Carter and O'Neill seemed to be the ones who were most affected by the virus.

But they were all going to be okay.

~*+*~

Sam and Jack walked into the quiet house. It was late and they assumed that Sara was asleep. So, trying not to wake her, they quickly and quietly moved throughout the house and went to their respective rooms to get some much needed sleep.

Janet had wanted Sam to stay in the infirmary a little longer, but she agreed to let her go only if Sam promised nothing but rest for a few days.

Sam collapsed into bed with an audible sigh. She and Jack hadn't spoken about what happened since he came into the infirmary, and they planned to keep it that way. But no matter how hard she tried, Sam couldn't get the memory of what it was like to be with Jack out of her mind.

Even if they had been under the influence of an alien virus.

~*+*~

Jack crawled into bed and held his wife close. He didn't know why, but for some reason he felt the need to have someone to hold tonight.

The memory of what it was like to be with Sam just wouldn't leave him alone and every time he closed his eyes, all he could think about was how he felt when they were together.

Sara rolled over. "Jack?" She murmured, pleased that he was home.

"Yeah, it's me." He told her. She sighed and snuggled further into his arms.

The moonlight was shining through their bedroom window giving Sara enough light to see the marks on his neck. "What happened?" she asked, immediately concerned. She reached over and flicked on a light, which was how she noticed the small tape covering his eyebrow, indicating that he'd had stitches.

"Sam and I were attacked." He told her, closing his eyes against the light.

"On the way home, or is it a classified thing?" Sara asked, not really expecting him to be able to give out much information about it.

"It a classified thing." He told her.

Sara switched off the light. "As long as you and Sam are okay." She said, worried about Sam, considering how weak she was at the moment.

"We're fine." Jack told her, closing his eyes and letting a dream filled sleep overcome him. The pictures of a naked Sam flashing in his head.

~*+*~

She growled in frustration again.

Why couldn't she get to sleep? This was ridiculous, she was an ex fly-girl, had a doctorate in astrophysics, and was almost thirty-six years old and she couldn't get to sleep?

And all because she'd just had the most amazing sex of her life. With a happily married man.

When did things ever become this screwed up? Things used to be easier, and there was once a time when Sam knew exactly what was happening in her life. And now, she just had no idea what the hell was going on.

~*+*~

Jack awoke early in the morning. If he couldn't get any sleep than the least he could do was find something productive to occupy his time until the rest of the house was up.

He'd finally managed to get the thoughts of his encounter with Sam out of his mind around three this morning, of course by that time he had gone past tired, way beyond exhausted and he'd hit wide-awake.

So what else was there to do but clean?

He couldn't lay in bed, because every time he looked at his trusting wife he thought of his betrayal. He couldn't go in and try to clear the air with Sam again, because chances are that he'd fall asleep and he wasn't sure that Sara could handle finding the two of them in bed together for a third time.

At least if he put his head phones on and went around the house with a duster, then his troubles were bound to be drowned out by the pulsating sounds of Meatloaf ringing through his ears.

Although a few of the songs on the album were starting to make him think. Whoever sang lines like, "I want you, I need you. But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you." anyway? What kind of sappiness was that.

Jack sighed and decided to change the CD.  Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. That'd do. He smiled as he inserted the CD into his discman. He had fond memories of that particular album. Okay, so more accurately, he had fond memories of things that he used to *do* listening to that album.

"You used to get stoned to that too, huh?" Sam asked, amused, standing at the door to his study.

Jack looked up to see her standing there smiling, she was holding a glass of water and he assumed that's why she'd gotten out of bed in the first place, she had her crutches perched underneath her arms.

"I'm not sure I should answer that." He joked, making her smile.

"Come on, if I can admit that I rolled a few joints then you can admit that you got stoned listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Everybody got stoned to that album!" She exclaimed, lowering herself onto the sofa that was near the door to his study, her crutches leaning against the arm of the couch.

"I never thought of you as the joint rolling type." He admitted, sitting next to her, their thighs almost touching.

"Thank god you only have to be young and stupid once!" She exclaimed, laughing with Jack.

"Hate to rain on the parade." Sara started from the doorway, "But it's not even daylight yet. Don't you think that you should get some sleep considering the attack yesterday." She told them, watching as they both visibly tensed at the mention of their attack.

"Yeah, I just needed to get a glass of water." Sam said, standing and using her crutches to hop back to her room. She was getting better at walking, it was still a challenge, but Sam didn't feel like she was relying on them too much.

Jack watched as Sam smiled at them before entering her room and gently closing the door behind her. He stared at the door for a moment until he realised that his wife was getting a little annoyed at his continued silence.

He mentally shook himself and crawled into bed and allowed Sara to snuggle up to him, the whole time he couldn't stop his thoughts from returning to his and Sam's 'attack.'

~*+*~

"Morning." Jack greeted his friends. When he had finally fallen asleep this morning, he had slept for a lot longer than anticipated, which would explain why Daniel, Teal'c, Sam and Sara were all sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee.

"O'Neill." Teal'c returned, nodding his head slightly. "I trust that you are well?" He asked, all bar Sara understanding the double meaning to his words.

"I'm fine thanks. Hows life at the mountain?" He asked, sitting down next to Sam and trying to ignore the spark he felt when her thigh lightly brushed his under the table.

"It is pleasant, thank you O'Neill." He nodded and Jack soon found himself engaged in a conversation with Daniel and Sam, about the young archaeologist's new apartment.

Sara sighed as she looked at the clock. She was due to meet a friend of her's in an hour, and it would take her half of that just to get to where she had to be. She rose from the table and then emptied the last of her coffee cup's contents into the sink before walking back to the table to bid farewell to the close knit group.

"Are you going out?" Jack asked, wondering what the chances were that she'd already told him about her plans for today and he hadn't been listening.

"Yeah, I have to meet Sandra for lunch and some shopping." She told him, leaving the room to finish getting prepared.


Sara's paranoia had finally died down and she realised that it was ridiculous for her to worry about her relationship with Jack. She should have learnt to trust him by now.

"What about this?" Sara asked, holding up a tight fitting purple sweater. They'd been shopping for over three hours now, and still were yet to purchase anything. Sam had vowed that as soon as she got her leg back to normal that she would start running again. She was beginning to put on a little weight and it was making some of her outfits look a little inappropriate.

"Okay." Sam shrugged, taking the garment and heading towards the change rooms. She pulled off her jumper and put the sweater on. As expected, it was too small for her. Sam sighed, everything was too small these days. She was getting sick of it.

"Well?" Sara called out from the other side of the change room door.

"Nope." Sam called back. "It's too small." She admitted, taking the indecently small top and putting her own, more comfortable, one on. She hung the store's top back on the coat hanger and opened the door to see Sara smiling at her.

"Doesn't matter. Want to blow off this shopping thing and go get something to eat?" She asked. Sam nodded, and after returning the top to it's place the two women left the store and went to find the nearest food court.

~*+*~

It wasn't possible.

Sam looked at it again. They weren't always accurate, right? She sighed, she'd known that there was a big possibility that she was pregnant for a few weeks now. She just hadn't been ready to accept it yet. And after looking at the little white stick, Sam wasn't sure that she was ready to accept it now either.

This just wasn't possible.

What was she going to do? What was she going to tell Jack? Sam took a sharp breath, what was she going to tell Sara? The woman had been really good to her for the past five or so months that they'd known each other and aside from Janet, who was usually working, Sara was the only real female friend that Sam had.

And she'd betrayed her.

Sam laughed a little. At least she knew why her clothes had stopped fitting her. Now that it was obvious that this wasn't something that she could work off, Sam figured that she could start buying clothes that would fit her more comfortably than the ones she currently owned.

Sam placed a protective hand over her stomach, she needed to get out of here, and fast. They were all supposed to be going out to dinner tonight to celebrate Sam's progress in physiotherapy. It had been going fairly well, and she was off the crutches. Although she still had a fairly obvious limp, and stairs were still impossible, things were getting easier to do and she was slowly starting to get back to work.

"Sammy, you okay?" Jack called through the door. Sam had been in the bathroom for almost twenty minutes now, and their restaurant booking was at eight, which meant that they had to leave now or they'd miss their table.

She opened the door, hoping that the foundation would cover the bags under her eyes. Janet had mentioned about the possibility of her being pregnant almost a week ago, and she'd hardly got any sleep since.

Sam smiled at Jack, and hoped like hell that she looked sincere. "Ready?" She asked, walking past him to get her coat from her room.

Jack nodded and walked towards her room and watched as she limped around getting her things together.

~*+*~

"Would you like a drink?" Jack asked the two women once they were seated. Thankfully, they'd made it to the restaurant on time.

"I'll have a water thanks." Sam replied, not sure what alcohol would do to the baby. She smiled a little, she had a life growing inside of her!

"Water?" Jack repeated, "Don't you want a real drink?" He joked.

"Um, the new drug that I'm on, Naprasyn, doesn't go very well with alcohol." She told them, thankful to her GP for putting her on the drug to try and get the swelling of her back to go down.

"Okay, Sara?" He asked, watching as Sam looked uncomfortable.

"Ah, white wine, thanks." Sara told her husband, smiling as he left to go to the bar. "So, Sam, do you want to talk about it?" She asked, smiling at the younger woman.

Sam blinked a few times. "Ah . . .talk about what?" She asked, trying to will Jack to hurry up.

"Whatever it is that's bothering you." Sara leaned in a little closer to Sam. "We're friends Sam, you can talk to me." She told her.

"I know." Sam smiled and nodded. "I just feel a little down, that's all." She replied, absently keeping a hand over her stomach while playing with the corner of her napkin.

"Are you sure?" Sara asked, worried about her friend.

Sam nodded, and watched as Jack walked back towards their table with their drinks in hand. She was thankful that she didn't have to evade Sara's questions for the time being. Although, realistically, she knew that Sara would try and figure out what was wrong, Sam was only just getting used to the idea of being pregnant herself, and she didn't think that she was ready to share this latest revelation.

~*+*~

Dinner had gone well in Sam's opinion. She remembered thinking those very same thoughts just over five short months ago when she hadn't known Sara all that well, and the bond between SG-1, which was now very solid, had yet to be formed.

Teal'c and Daniel still went on missions with SG-2, but every time they were Earth side they'd come and visit Sam and Jack. Sometimes they'd sit and talk, or they'd go on picnics or to the movies. Sara didn't accompany them very often, but occasionally she went out with them.

Daniel was supposed to be coming over to take Sam out to lunch today. She had decided that she'd tell him about the baby and see what he had to say.

"Sammy, Daniel's here." Jack called, he and Sara were going to visit someone called Charlie today. Sam didn't know who he was, but every time they mentioned him, it seemed like they had suddenly become depressed.

Sam got all of her things together and left her room, gently closing the door behind her. "Bye." She waved before leaving the house to go and get in the car with Daniel.

"So how are you?" He asked, kissing her cheek and starting the car before making the short drive to the park.

"Okay." she replied quietly.

"Sam?" Daniel asked, pulling into the parking lot.

Sam didn't say anything, she just got out of the car and limped towards the spot that they always sat at. It was just under a tree, and they had taken to coming here regularly.

Daniel laid down their blanket and placed the picnic basket on the ground before helping Sam to sit down. "What's wrong?" He asked gently, pulling out a thermos of coffee.

"Nothing." She lied, knowing that Daniel could see through her bad attempt at sincerity.

"Don't lie." He smiled encouragingly. "I know you Sam, I can tell that there's something wrong. What is it?" He asked, placing a comforting hand on her's.

"I'm in love with Jack." She admitted, lowering her head in shame. She'd never meant for anything like this to happen.

"I thought so." Daniel nodded. It was obvious to him that there was chemistry between his two friends and since Sam had her accident Jack seemed almost reluctant to leave her side.

"There's more." She told him, taking a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

"Oh." Daniel muttered. Not at all surprised. "What are you going to do?" He asked, concerned.

"I don't know." She admitted, looking at the children playing in the park.

"Have you told Jack?" He asked quietly, not sure how Sam felt about the situation.

Sam shook her head negatively "No one needs to know right now." She told him. Daniel nodded, content with the knowledge that Sam knew what she was doing.

He hoped.

~*+*~

I got my heart set,
My feet wet
But he don't even know yet
And no one needs to know right now

I'll tell him someday
Someway, somehow
But I'm gonna keep it a secret
For now.

We'll have a little girl,
Or a little boy
A little Benji we call Leroy
And no one needs to know right now.

Am I dreaming?
Or stupid?
But boy I've been hit by Cupid
And no one needs to know right now.

No one needs to know - Shania Twain

~*+*~

The day at the park with Daniel had been exactly what Sam needed. They had spent the remainder of the day talking about things in general and he somehow managed to let Sam allow herself to stop thinking about the situation and just relax.

She'd even joked about what she was going to do about the baby. It was too late for a termination, and Sam didn't think that she could do that anyway. She'd always thought of it as inhuman, even though she knew that some people were in a situation where they had no choice, she still couldn't do it.

Jack still had no idea, but he hadn't really been speaking much over the past week. Sam had accidentally overheard a conversation that Sara was having on the phone one day and she'd mentioned that the visit to see Charlie hadn't gone well.

Sam knew that she was starting to show, and it worried her a little. She had to tell Jack and Sara sooner or later, but she wanted to do that on her own terms, not have them find out because of her protruding stomach.

What was she going to do?

~*+*~

Jack took a long sip of his beer and looked up at the night sky. It was beautiful and he found himself slipping back into his old ways and dedicating the two stars, except this time he found one for Sam as well.

Sara wasn't home and wouldn't be for a few days so Jack had grabbed a six pack and headed straight for the roof. He wasn't even sure if Sam was home yet.

He finished the last of the beer and sat up for another, only to find that he had emptied the six pack already. He looked around just to confirm that there were five other empty bottles surrounding him. Jack sighed, now he'd have to go back into the house.

"Need some more?" He heard Sam ask as she stepped over the railing of the deck on his roof, beer in hand.

"Thanks." He nodded, smiling at her. "How'd you get up here?" Jack asked, remembering that Tony had told her not to do any unnecessary exercises.

"I used those funny things that we call legs." She replied, twisting the cap off a beer and handing it to him, while doing the same for herself. She knew that she shouldn't be drinking, but if she was going to have this conversation than she was damn sure that she would be numb enough first.

"I thought that you were supposed to rest those things that we call legs?" He asked, pulling back a long sip of his beer.

"I am, but I thought that we could have a chat." She started, before sitting down next to him on the ground and wondering why she brought this up after only a few mouth fulls of her drink.

"Okay." He shrugged.

"Jack, are you alright?" Sam asked, looking at her friend.

"Not really. Sara's gone back to her father. It really doesn't look good for him at the moment."  He told her and it only just occurred to Sam that she wasn't home.

"I'm really sorry about that." Sam said honestly, she knew all too well what it was like to have a parent die. Even though her mother had died instantly, and Sara's father had contracted cancer, the pain was still very much the same.

"I know, so am I." He replied, nodding his head.

"So do you want to talk about it?" Sam asked, looking up at the sky. She had travelled to many of those stars, and it only just occurred to her that there was a big possibility that she'd be taken off duty for a while.

"Talk about what, Charlie?" He asked, knowing that he was yet to tell Sam about his son and the family that he'd had and lost.

"If that's what's bothering you, then yeah." She replied, wondering about this Charlie.

Jack sighed, he should have a few more beers before he even attempted to have this conversation, but he might as well get it over with now. "Charlie was our son, but he died."

Sam gasped in horror. "I'm so sorry." She told him, eyes wide with her mind on her baby.

Jack continued after taking a deep breath "It was my gun. I'd put it away and Charlie found it, he was playing with it while Sara and I were out the front and all of a sudden there was this loud bang. I will never forget what it was like to see the life of my child slumped on the floor with blood seeping from him." Jack stopped to compose himself and settled for finishing the last of his beer and opening another for himself.

Sam sighed. That had to be the most horrifying story that she had ever heard. But she had to give Jack and Sara credit for staying together through the ordeal. No doubt it would have been hard, they must really love each other if they could survive that, Sam decided.

"I had no idea." She admitted, finishing off the last of her beer.

"I know you didn't. I didn't want anyone to know. It's not the kind of thing that you talk about at dinner time." He joked, trying to lighten the mood somewhat.

"So I take it that it was the anniversary last weekend, when I went to the park with Daniel?" Sam asked and Jack nodded. "Any other kids?" Sam couldn't help but ask and she knew that she'd be slapping herself on the forehead over that question for a while to come.

"No, Sara had a lot of trouble with the pregnancy and so we decided that one was enough. She had a hysterectomy shortly after Charlie's first birthday." He said, sipping more of his beer.

"Did you want more children?" Sam found herself asking as she opened another beer.

"Oh yeah!" He replied with feeling. "Especially now considering Charlie's gone, but it's a little late for me." He told her.

Sam nodded and smiled. At least she knew that Jack wanted children. Before tonight she wasn't even sure how he felt about being a father.

Sam was thankful for small mercies.

Morning came soon enough but Sam and Jack lay entwined on the roof, both slumbering peacefully. Which was exactly what they both needed.

Jack needed the chance to forget about the pain caused by what had happened to Charlie and Sam just needed to feel the arms of someone around her. Someone that wouldn't lie and say that 'everything would be alright.'

~*+*~

You can say it's alright,
But I know that you're breaking up inside
I see it in your eyes
Even you face the night afraid and alone
That's why I'll be there

You can sleep in my arms
You don't have to explain
When your hearts crying out
Baby, whisper my name

When the storm rises up
When the shadows descend
Every beat of my heart
Every day without end
I will stand like a rock
I will bend till I break.
Till there's no more to give,
If that's what it takes.

I will risk everything
I will fight I will bleed
I will lay down my life
If that's what you need

Every second I live,
That's the promise I make
Baby that's what I'll give
If that's what it takes.

-Celine Dion, If that's what it takes

~*+*~

Jack was the first one awake, which wasn't unusual for him. He was used to getting up reasonably early and pottering around until everyone else had awoken. But today, he looked at his watch, and realised that it was well after eight. Unusual for him to be asleep so long. He must have needed it.

He looked down at Sam and smiled. She looked so peaceful when she slept, like an innocent child. Of course, if she knew that he thought that then she'd probably do some serious damage to his vital organs.

But she really did look amazing lying on his chest like this, her hair was everywhere and for not the first time in his life, he was glad that Sara had always kept her hair short. He didn't know how Sam could stand the long strands always in her face. She was continuously pushing the side bits behind her ears, well aware that they would fall back around her face sooner or later. Sara never had that problem with her short hair.

Jack sighed and shook his head, there he went comparing them again. Why did he keep doing that? It's not like he had any unprofessional feelings towards Carter, was it?

Sam moved on his chest and groaned, her back couldn't handle nights on the floor like it used to. And not to mention the baby.

"Morning." Jack whispered, well aware that their alcohol consumption the night before had been well above her recommended intake with this new medication. Jack smiled when she groaned and tried to bury her face in his chest.

"You have to get up sooner or later." He told her, laughing at her attempts to snuggle further into his body.

"Is it really morning already?" She asked, rolling off him and falling back on the blanket that they had been sharing.

"Yep. 'Fraid so." He yawned, looking at her messed up appearance. Jack couldn't help but admire how the 'just woken up and haven't brushed my hair' appearance suited Sam.

"I didn't get that memo." She joked, stretching. Judging by the pain in her stomach, Sam guessed that the baby was already accustomed to a bed.

"You okay?" Jack asked, watching as she winced at the action of stretching. He knew that she shouldn't have stayed up here last night, it wasn't any good for her back.

"Yeah, just a little sore." She lied, biting her lip to keep from screaming. Sam shook her head and made a mental note not to voluntarily sleep on the ground for a while.

"Come on, I'll run you a hot bath." Jack offered and Sam was up like a flash at the prospect of a nice warm bath to relax in.

~*+*~

Sam slowly slid back into the water and moaned. This was heavenly, it had been a long time since Sam could honestly say that she was comfortable, but now was one of those times. The feel of the water caressing her skin from head to toe was amazing, and she wondered why she hadn't just layed back in a bath before.

"You still breathing in there Sammy?" Jack called through the bathroom door, he'd heard Sam moan and wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Oh yeah, I'm good!" She called back, moving her right leg until it was bent and in a more comfortable position.

"Need anything?" He asked, smiling at the relaxed tone of her voice.

"About four more months in this tub!" she joked, closing her eyes.

"I'll see what I can do." He returned. "Just call if you need anything." Jack said before moving away from the door. It was too tempting to just open the door and go in and join her.

Sam placed her hands over her abdomen and looked at the bump that had formed there. She still wasn't used to seeing it and it was still very surreal, in a nauseating kind of way.

Morning sickness hadn't been a very big thing in Sam's pregnancy so far, although she was sure that it would kick in sooner or later, it was yet to rear it's ugly head. For that she was very thankful.

She had managed to avoid telling Jack or Sara so far, but if she was vomiting every morning than the cat would be out of the bag sooner than she was ready for.

Daniel had promised to keep his mouth shut as long as she promised that she would tell people eventually. Although, he had made an offer that Sam was now seriously considering.

She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, Sam realised that the water had gone stone cold and her toes were wrinkled up, indicating that she'd fallen asleep.

"Great." She muttered, standing and quickly drying herself off before throwing on her long silk robe. Sam pulled the bath plug out and headed out to the kitchen to get some much needed coffee.

Jack was sitting at the breakfast bar eating fruit loops. He was dressed in grey sweat pants and a black T-shirt, with nothing on his feet. He looked up when he heard someone emerging from the bathroom, and his heart nearly stopped at the sight of Sam dressed in a long purple silk robe, still slightly damp from her bath.

"Enjoy the water?" He asked, knowing that it must have been cold by now. She'd been in there for almost an hour.

"Yes thank you." She replied, moving to pour herself a cup of coffee. "What are you up to today?" Sam asked, staring out the kitchen window with her coffee in hand.

Jack shrugged, "Not sure really. I think I should probably cut the grass . . . After I get the door." He answered, hearing the bell ring and moving to get the door.

Jack opened his front door to find a strange man standing there. He was a little shorter than Jack, he had a beard and was wearing Jeans and a cream shirt.

"Can I help you?" Jack asked, scrutinising the man standing before him. 

"I'm looking for Samantha." He replied, looking past Jack and into the house as though he wasn't even there.

It was at that moment that Sam came into the lounge room from the kitchen to find out who was at the door. "Who is it, Jack?" She asked, walking up behind him. It took a minute for her to register who owned the face that she was currently staring at.

"Jonas." She acknowledged, smiling thinly and making sure that her body was completely covered by her robe.

"Samantha, aren't you going to invite me in?" He asked, giving her a look that he had frequently used to try and control her with in the past.

"No." She replied firmly.

"Sammy, why do you look like you've just seen a ghost?" Jonas asked, and Jack noted what the other man had called Sam.

"Because you might as well be dead for all I care." She replied harshly.

"Can we talk?" He asked and glanced at Jack and added, "Privately."

Sam could tell that Jonas felt threatened by Jack, but why was beyond her. As far as she knew, the two men hadn't met yet. "No." She repeated, not willing to let herself get into what could be an ugly situation with this man.

"Sam, you know I still love you, right?" He asked.

"No." She shook her head.

Jonas growled in frustration. "Is 'no' the only word that you know these days?" He asked, menacingly.

Sam smiled coldly, and shook her head. "No."

"Don't you want to talk?" He asked

Sam shook her head again. Part of her was glad that Jack was here and the anther part of her really wished he didn't have to be here for this. "Not really. Why are you here?"

"I've been reassigned." He told her.

"To where?" Sam asked, sipping her coffee and widening her stance for a fight, not that she was up to it in her present condition, not just the baby but her back as well.

"The SGC." He replied with an evil smile on his face. He knew that she was working there, and he knew about all of her previous missions. That's how he'd found out where she was living and about the car accident that she'd had.

"Deep space radar telemetry?" Jack asked, diverting Jonas' attention from an appraisal of Sam's scantly clad body, back to him.

"You're Colonel O'Neill, you know what's really going on there." Jonas dead panned. Jack sighed. Was this guy as crazy as he seemed? Had he never heard of classified before?

"Excuse me." Sam said, walking to her bedroom and changing her clothes quickly. She didn't like the look that Jonas had given her, so she threw on the most baggy pair of pants and jumper that she could find in the space of thirty seconds, ignoring the pain in her back and leg caused by the quick movements. She glanced in the mirror and smiled, for someone who was hardly walking, she could get dressed in a hurry when she had to.

When Sam walked back out into the living room no one had moved. Jack was still standing at the door, holding it open, but ready to fight if he had to, and Jonas was still standing at the entrance to the house waiting for an invitation that he was never going to get. "Are you here for any specific reason, or are you just here to try and frighten me?" Sam asked bluntly as she limped back into the room.

Jonas looked at her with pleading eyes that Sam had seen many a time before. "I wanted to work things out between us. It was all a misunderstanding." He told her.

"I don't think so. I'm stronger than you think I am, and if you come near me again, you will be sorry." She told him, glad that she had suddenly tapped into this new found strength.

"What are you going to do? Hit me with a walking stick?" He asked, taunting her.

"Since you're working at the SCG, I assume you know who Teal'c is?" Sam asked, and when Jonas nodded she continued. "Right, he happens to be a very close friend of mine who would gladly hurt you if you hurt me. Leave." She told him, folding her arms, with a determined look on her face.

"Yeah, go back to screwing O'Neill, it's the only way you could get into the SGC." He muttered as he walked down the driveway towards his car.

~*+*~

I don't need your sympathy,
There's nothing you could say or do for me
And I don't want a miracle
You'll never change for no one

So you feel misunderstood
Baby have I got news for you
On being used, I could write the book
But you don't wanna hear about it

Come hell or waters high
You'll never see me cry
This is our last goodbye
It's true
Now I'm telling you

Now I'm strong enough
To live without you
Strong enough
And I've quit cryin' long enough
Now I'm strong enough to know
You've gotta go.

There's no more to say, so
Save your breath and walk away
No matter what I hear you say
I'm strong enough
To know, you gotta go

-Cher, Strong enough

~*+*~

Jack closed the door and took a deep breath. He honestly had no idea what that was about, but his instincts had told him that this guy was untrustworthy and he should be prepared for a fight, which he was. And judging by the last comment that Jonas had made on the way to his car, Jack's instincts were right.

He turned around to find Sam staring at the door, her eyes rooted to the spot where Jonas had just been. "You okay?" Jack asked, concern lacing his tone.

Sam didn't respond, and Jack took a few steps closer to her and tried again. "Sam?" She still didn't appear to hear him, and by now he was standing directly in front of her. "Sam!" He shouted.

Jack gently shook her shoulders and only then did he get her attention and when she looked at him, he saw the tears in her eyes and pulled her into a hug without a conscious thought to his wife, whom he didn't notice was standing in the doorway.

The first thing that Sara noticed was that this was getting to be a habit. She'd go to her father who would be virtually dead, just still breathing, and then he'd get better and when she'd return Sam and Jack would be hugging or cuddled up on the sofa.

Sara looked on as the couple embraced, and said nothing. She wasn't as insecure as she was when she'd first met Sam and was now used to the displays of affection that passed between her husband and this woman.

Sam glanced up, desperate for her tears to remain in her eyes and off Jack's shoulder, and she noticed Sara standing by the door, with her bags still in hand.

"Hey." Sam said, looking at her friend and moving out of Jack's embrace, much to his disappointment.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sara asked, hugging Sam briefly.

"Yeah." Sam replied. "Can we talk?" She asked, only loud enough for Sara to hear her.

Sara glanced at her husband who hadn't said anything yet, and nodded at Sam. She grabbed her bags and indicated for Sam to head down to their room. "Jack." Sara called, once she had his attention, he walked over and gave his wife a chaste kiss. "I'm going to have a chat with Sam while I unpack my things." Sara told him, and after he nodded his head she walked down to her room to find Sam sitting on her bed.

"Okay, so what's wrong?" Sara asked, concerned for her friend.

Sam looked up at the older woman and took a deep breath. She didn't want to lie to her friend but what she had come up with was as close to the truth as she dared go. "I fell in love with a guy from the base." Sam told her, looking downwards.

"Well, that's great. Isn't it?" Sara asked.

"He's with someone else." Sam admitted, biting her bottom lip in concentration.

"Married?" Sara asked, her thoughts running in directions that she didn't want to think about. She trusted Jack, and she trusted Sam.

"I'm not sure, I'm pretty certain he's married. Although it could be defacto, I didn't ask." Sam lied "But I didn't know he was involved with anyone when I first met him." She finished, pleased that she had told at least part of the truth. After all, when she and Jack had first met, she didn't know he was married.

Sara cursed herself for being so insecure. "So what's the problem? Unrequited love?" She asked, putting a few sweaters back into their place.

"Well that's just it. We sort of got involved." Sam answered, hanging up one of Sara's shirts for her.

"And he doesn't want it to continue?" Sara asked, putting her first, now empty, suitcase under the bed.

"He's happy with his wife, it's just that I'm completely in love with him." Sam replied, moving to help Sara with the second bag.

"Are you prepared to break up their marriage?" She asked, wondering if her friend was in fact Susie home wrecker in disguise.

"No!" Sam answered quickly. She and Sara had become good friends and Sam wouldn't jeopardise her and Jack's marriage for the sake of her own happiness. "It's just that . . .I don't want to break up their marriage, or get in the middle of it, but I found out that I'm pregnant." Sam confessed, smiling ruefully.

Sara's eyes went wide as she looked at the younger woman in shock. "Really?" she asked, surprised.

"Yeah, really." Sam replied. Sara covered her mouth with her hands and let out an excited squeal and Sam let out a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding.

"Oh my god! This is so wonderful!" Sara exclaimed, hugging Sam. "Isn't it?" She asked, looking at Sam's depressed face.

"I guess." She replied. "I am happy about the baby, but you and Daniel are the only one's who know. I haven't even told the father yet." She shrugged, wondering if she should have told Jack first.

"Ooh. That could get messy." Sara told her, confirming what Sam had already figured out. "How far along are you?" She asked.

Sam hesitated. This was the question that she didn't want to answer. She had always been told that the trick with lying is telling as much of the truth as you possibly can, so with that in mind she replied. "Four months. I didn't know until a week ago." She told her.

"You didn't notice?" Sara asked, a little surprised that Sam hadn't seen the signals.

"No, since the accident, my body hasn't been behaving as it should, so there wasn't exactly a way for me to keep track of fertile times." She joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Sara nodded and thought for a moment. "Hey, four months ago you were only barely out of hospital, right?" She asked, wondering why Sam was engaging in those sort of activities so soon after coming out of hospital.

Jack chose that moment to knock lightly before opening his bedroom door. "Sara, you have a phone call." He told her. Sara nodded and left the room before mouthing 'tell him' to Sam.

"Jack, can I have a word?" Sam asked, wondering if he'd buy the same story that Sara did. Not likely.

Jack sat down next to Sam on his bed "Sure, what's up?" He asked, wondering why it seemed so natural for Sam to be on his bed.

"I met someone." She lied, hearing her heart break in her chest.

Jack felt his own heart break in that instant. Once he'd taken a deep breath and realised that he was being selfish, after all he was married, and he finally found enough of his voice to respond. "That's great. When do we get to meet him?"

"You don't. It was a one time thing and it was four months ago." She shrugged, hating the fact that she was lying to her best friend and the father of her baby.

"So, why are you bringing it up now?" he asked, confused.

"Because I'm pregnant Jack." She told him, looking at the bedspread as opposed to his face.

Jack's head shot up and his eyes mysteriously found hers. "Are you serious?" He asked, the broken pieces of his heart sitting in his throat.

"Yeah." Sam nodded.

"Congratulations are in order I guess." Jack said, shrugging, unsure of what to say or do.

"Not really. I'm four months pregnant, there is nothing that I can do about it. I don't have a choice here." Sam admitted, knowing very well that she couldn't get rid of Jack's child even if she had to.

He was just contemplating a reply when Jack heard his wife call out to him. "Jack, Daniel and Teal'c are here!" Sara called from the kitchen.

Jack had forgotten that Daniel and Teal'c were coming over for a drink this afternoon.

"I told Daniel yesterday." Sam told him, answering the unasked question obviously burning in his mind.

Jack nodded and stood, leaving the room and Sam to sit on the bed and stare after him wishing she could tell him the truth. Daniel stuck his head around the door a moment later, only to find Sam still sitting on the edge of the bed, unmoving.

"Sam?" He asked, walking into the room.

"Hey Daniel. How are you?" She asked.

"Good. You?" He replied.

"I told them." She admitted, smiling a small and sad smile.

"How'd they take it?" Daniel asked, walking further into the room to sit on the bed next to her.

"I told them that I had an affair with a married man and it's over. I went into a little more detail with Sara, but they know about the baby." She told him.

"Why don't you think about my offer?" Daniel asked.

"Thanks Daniel, but I couldn't live with you. Not with a baby on the way. It's going to be hard enough looking for a nice place as it is." She told him, swinging her good leg back and forth.

"You're definitely moving out?" Daniel asked.

"Like hell she is." Came a voice from the doorway. Sam and Daniel looked up to see Jack standing there, with his arms folded across his chest.

"I'll leave you to it." Daniel muttered, aware that neither of his friends were paying any attention to him. It was amazing how these two could phase out the entire world in the company of each other.

"Jack, I'm going to have a baby, you and Sara don't need the extra hassle." She told him, silently glad that he didn't appear to want her to leave. It was nice to feel wanted.

"So? We love having you here, and besides, if you move out, then whose going to teach the little guy to play hockey?" Jack asked, placing a gentle hand on Sam's small stomach, and she was thankful that he didn't notice her jump at the contact of his soft hands.

"I can't do that to you and Sara." Sam shook her head, the pictures of her giving birth with Jack holding her hand were not helping the situation.

Jack plainly ignored the comment. "Thought of any names yet?" He asked, diverting her attention.

"Not really." Sam shrugged. She'd love to name the baby after his father. Assuming of course it was a boy. She hadn't exactly been having regular ultrasounds to find out.

"Call him Jack. It's a good strong name." He told her, smiling.

"Okay." Sam agreed, pleased that she had the chance to name her baby after his father. That's it, Sam decided, she was definitely having a boy.

"Sammy, I was kidding." Jack hurriedly told her.

"No, you're right. Jack is a good name. If I have a boy then I'll call him Jack." Sam nodded, her mind made up.

Jack sat up from his position hunched over her stomach and smiled at her. He was pleased that she wanted to give her child his name. He briefly wondered who the father was, but quickly realised that it didn't matter, this was Sam's child and the paternity wasn't important.

He suddenly found himself leaning towards Sam, and she to him. It was only now that his brain caught up to the present situation and allowed him to realise that he was about to kiss Sam.

Her lips felt wonderful beneath his. More than that, they felt . . .right. Something that he hadn't experienced for a long time. And never with Sara.

For the first time in years Sam felt truly at home, she felt safe and was content to lose herself in Jack's kiss, no matter how wrong it was.

~*+*~

I don't wanna think about it.
Don't wanna think clear
And don't analyse, What I'm doing here
Wanna be impulsive.
Reckless.
And loose myself in your kiss

You're giving me feeling
It's a sudden rush
Acting on a moment
Spontanious
I'm gonna be impulsive.
Reckless.
And loose myself in your kiss.

-Wilson Philips, Impulsive

~*+*~