Advice - Part 2
Advice - Part 2
by Elizabeth
Category: Romance
Episode Related: 405 Divide and Conquer
Season: any Season
Pairing: Jack/Sam
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. I have written this story for entertainment purposes only and no money whatsoever has exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).
Archived on: 09/14/03
"Carter"
They stood in the doorway for what seemed like forever until Carter finally spoke, "Can I come in?"
"Oh yeah, sorry. Want something to drink?" "No, I'm fine. Thanks.
Jack offered her a seat in and sat in the seat opposite her. `This is...awkward.' he thought. `What could she possibly be here for?'
"Weren't you at the Pentagon?" That came out a bit harsher than he intended. "Yes, I was." `Was?'
"So are you here on official business or are you just wasting my time?" He grimaced slightly at how harsh that sounded. He should probably try to persuade her to come back to the SGC but a part of him was a little bit angry with her and right now that part seemed to take over. "Maybe I should just go. This is a bad time." Carter stood up to leave but Jack was up just as fast and grabbed her arm to stop her. At first she was startled by his touch and tried to break free. "No, don't go. I'm sorry." She seemed to relax and he released the pressure on her arm but didn't break contact until she moved to sit back down and he did the same. "I came to apologize, sir." He knew what she was talking about but he wanted to hear her say it. "What for?"
"For the way that I acted a few weeks ago. I was rude and I shouldn't have left like that." "You don't owe me an explanation, Carter." "Yes I do. We were a team and I abandoned you guys." He was about to respond when she continued, "I meant what I said about wanting a family and friends and not having to lie about where I am all day. I didn't want to be in a position where me or my friends could die at any given moment. That's how it is at the Pentagon: normal. I was able to share my work with my friends and I even had relationship with a really nice guy who I could talk to about everything. Including my work. I was nice."
`What did she come here for anyway? Is she trying to make me feel like I'm not good enough or something? Well she's doing a pretty good job of it.' "That's great Carter. What are you doing here?" "It wasn't enough, sir. I missed the action, the excitement. I missed SG-1 and...I guess I missed you."
`Wow.'
"Me, Carter?"
"Yes sir, you. At the Pentagon, everyone was so serious. No one had any sense of humor at all. It was terrible!" Jack smiled, he must have rubbed off on her more than he realized. "I didn't have anyone to come to my lab and break all my `doohickeys' anymore, and everyone actually listened to me babble on about the decay rate of naquada. It was pretty boring, sir." He wasn't really sure what to say. He always suspected that she liked him coming to her lab, annoying the heck out of her, but he was pretty sure she wasn't joking when she'd tell him not to break anything. "I missed you too Carter." That's when he realized something. She had been speaking about the Pentagon in past tense, as if she had quit. "So...when do you go back?"
"I'm not. I talked to Hammond last week and he's agreed to let me back on SG-1...if that's ok with you?" She hoped it was. She wasn't sure what she'd do if it wasn't. After the way she'd treated him in his office that day, she wouldn't blame him if he never forgave her. He thought about it for a minute or two and Sam was starting to wonder if something was wrong. `How can I not let her back? But then, things will never be the same between us. Can I live with that?', he asked himself.
"Of course, Carter. But you realize it won't be like it was before, not for a while anyway." "Yes sir, I realize that. I just don't think that I can keep working in an office somewhere knowing that you're up there, making a difference." "To tell the truth, I'm not sure that SG-1 will make as much of a difference without you." "Thank you, sir. I think I'll have something to drink now." As Jack walked into the kitchen, she asked, "So did you have a good time fishing?" "Fishing?"
"Isn't that where you've been for the last two weeks?" "Uh...no."
"Oh. Daniel said you left town and I assumed that's where you went. Where were you? If you don't mind my asking."
"Visiting my mom."
Sam was surprised. Probably more surprised than she should've been, she told herself. "How's she doing?" He wasn't sure why she would care but figured she was trying to make conversation so he answered, "She's doing great. A lot healthier than most people her age." "That's good."
He handed her her drink and she thanked him, but his fingers brushed up against hers and they both seemed to freeze. Their eyes locked and she saw something she hadn't seen since they were trapped on opposite sides of Apophis's energy shield. A softness, an emotion that they weren't allowed to share. They leaned towards each other and before their lips touched, she stopped. "We shouldn't." That seemed to break the spell and they backed away from each other. Somehow, the glass they were holding had made it's way to the coffee table and she quickly walked to the door to leave as soon as possible. `I shouldn't have come here,' she scolded herself. As she closed the door behind her, Jack stared after her, not able to muster the courage to chase after her. He only hoped to forget this whole thing and move on. But he got the feeling it wouldn't be that easy.
3 weeks later - SGC
SG-1 was due to leave on a mission and the whole team was in the gate room 5 minutes early as usual except for Major Carter.
"Colonel O'Neill, have you seen Major Carter?" "I'm sure she'll be here, T."
"Jack have you noticed anything odd with Sam lately? She seems a little...I don't know, distracted. You have any idea what's going on?"
"She's probably just trying to readjust. She'll be fine." "I've also noticed you two don't talk to each other very often. Is there something going on that I should know?"
"Danny," Jack was beginning to get very frustrated, "If there was something going on that you needed to know, wouldn't I have told you already?" "Not necessarily, if it had to do with you and Sam." "I ,too, have noticed your behavior to be strange when in each other's presence, O'Neill." "Guys, there's noth..."
"Major Carter. It is nice of you to join us." "Sorry guys. I got caught in Hammond's office." "Hammond's office?" Jack couldn't think of any reason why she would have been talking to Hammond, unless...
"Yeah, I had to talk to him about something." `Chevron 5, locked'
"What about?"
`Chevron 6, locked'
"Can we talk about this later?"
"Now's as good a time as any, Carter."
Both Teal'c and Daniel were noticing the obvious tension between the two. Daniel stepped in, "Jack, she said she'd tell us later. A mission isn't exactly the place for this kind of discussion." `Chevron 7...will not lock'
"What kind of discussion? Danny, you know something I don't?" Neither of them noticed that the Stargate had not opened yet and were oblivious to Sam's immediate departure to the control room. "Colonel O'Neill, Daniel Jackson."
"Yes, Teal'c?"
"Um, what's wrong with the Stargate? And where's Sam?" "Guys there's a problem with the computer system and it's going to take a while to fix." Major Carter informed them over the speaker phone. "Great."
"Well, look on the bright side. Now you can get the explanation from Sam that you seem to want so badly."
"Shut up, Daniel."
4 hours later, Sam found her team in the commissary and was trying to decide whether or not she wanted to face the Colonel. He didn't look too happy and she had been able to avoid spending to much unnecessary time around him over the last few days. Just as she decided take her food to her lab and eat there, Daniel spotted her and waved at her to go sit with them. `Darn it!' She reluctantly walked over to their table and sat down in the only available seat, beside the Colonel. "Hey Sam. I heard you figured out the problem?"
"Yeah, there was some sort of glitch in the dialing system but I'm pretty sure we fixed it." There was an awkward silence then Daniel asked the question that was running through all of the men's minds. "So, what did Hammond want to talk to you about earlier?" "Actually I went to him."
"Oh. Is something wrong?"
"If there was something wrong don't you think she would've told us?" Jack snapped at Daniel, slightly startling those at the surrounding tables. "I asked for a transfer off SG-1."
"What? Why?"
"Are you unhappy here Major Carter?"
Jack stopped eating but continued to stare at his plate. "Personal reasons."
"Again?" Jack snapped again, this time attracting stares from most of the people in the commissary including Daniel and Teal'c whose anger towards Jack was growing rapidly. Jack was unaware, or simply did not care, not only that his friends were upset with him, but that he had hurt one of them. "Jack, shut up! Let Sam talk."
"I'm not very hungry. I think I'm just gonna check on the gate, make sure everything's doing ok." She left the commissary and a very angry Daniel and Teal'c glaring at Jack.
knock knock
knock knock
"Sam I know you're in there, open up."
Daniel knocked again and this time was answered by Sam's voice saying "Come in." He thought it sounded like she was crying but wasn't sure and hoped that wasn't the case. Sure enough, he found her wiping at her eyes and immediately sat on the bed beside her to comfort her. "Daniel, I don't what's wrong with me. One person shouldn't have so much control over my feelings."
"Jack?" She nodded.
"Does this have something to do with why you left last time?" "Yes."
"What happened?" He knew she really didn't want to talk about it but she needed to. It was unhealthy for her to bottle I all up inside. "The reason I left last time was because I felt like we were getting too close and I wasn't sure if I could control my feelings any longer, so I left. I guess I hoped it would go away." "But it didn't and it was too painful to be away so you came back." He filled in for her. "Now I see it was a mistake. I should have just stayed away." "No. Leaving in the first place was a mistake. But that doesn't explain why he's angry with you. I'd have figured he would be glad to have you back. What happened?" "I was stupid, that's what happened. I went to his house to apologize for leaving like I did and we started talking and he was about to kiss me but I told him no and left." Daniel wasn't quite sure what to say do he settled for "Oh, I see." "Yeah stupid huh?"
"Almost kissing him or not kissing him?" "Both."
"Maybe you should talk to him."
"I can't he hates me."
"No he doesn't. He probably just thinks you don't feel the same way about him that he thought you did. Do you?"
She hesitated and finally answered, "yes". "Then you definitely need to talk to him." And with that he left, hoping she would take his advice. If he had his way about it, they would just ignore the dumb regs and admit what the feel. It would make things a lot simpler for all those involved, he thought. Sam sat in her quarters for an hour thinking about it and finally made her decision. She got up and headed for Jack's office.
TBC
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