No Choice

Disclaimer: Anything recognizable is not mine.

A/N: Different than anything I've ever done…so I don't really know what to think. I know this would never happen on the show, but that's why this is fanfiction

Enjoy!

Sam sat in the small grey room, hard metal chair pressing against her back, and the cold steel table unyielding under her hands. The room was lit by a single bare bulb positioned directly over the table, barely casting light into the corners. The man called Woolsey was standing across from her, his face shadowed by the dim light, but Sam could see the smug expression on his face. He silently waited for her to volunteer a confession, but Sam set her jaw. This bureaucrat wasn't going to get what he wanted.

"Tell me what happened on your most recent mission, Major Carter." His voice was coaxing, with a hard edge. He was determined.

Well, so was she. "You've read my report. That's all there is to it."

"I don't believe that, Major. I think there's a lot you didn't put into the report. I think there's a lot you leave out of all your reports." He tapped a finger on the table, but Sam refused to break eye contact.

"My report is the whole truth. If it isn't good enough for you, then I don't know what to tell you."

"The truth would be a start."

Sam felt her temper rise, threatening to spill over, but she quelched the urge to be insubordinate. Now was not the time to lose her temper. If not for her own sake, then for the colonel's.

"Tell me why Colonel O'Neill did what he did." Woolsey slowly lowered himself into the chair opposite her and folded his hands tightly in front of him.

Sam took a deep breath. No matter what had happened during that mission she needed to protect the colonel. She needed to make sure Woolsey left here without a doubt in his mind that what happened had been her own fault.

Even if she herself wasn't sure of that.

Sam lowered her eyes for the first time. "It was me. It was my fault that I was captured. I thought Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill needed help."

"Colonel O'Neill told you they needed help?" Woolsey leaned forward slightly, light glaring off his glasses.

Sam shook her head slowly. "The radio connection was bad and they had been out of sight too long. I made an executive decision and told Daniel to hold the gate until we got back."

Woolsey waited silently and for a heart-stopping second Sam thought that he could see right through her. In her mind's eye she saw what really happened—maybe it was reflecting on her face somehow.

She and Daniel were the first to make it back to SG-7 and their post guarding the gate. Daniel called for Colonel Fredericks to start dialing Earth, while Sam and the rest of SG-7 took cover and raised their weapons, looking for the two familiar forms of the colonel and Teal'c to come over the hill. Thirty seconds passed before they heard the rising sounds of gunfire and the first staff blast hit the dirt in from of Sam.

"Colonel! We have the gate!" Sam shouted into her radio, raising her P-90 higher on her shoulder."We need to move!"

Her only reply was more gunfire. More staff blasts littered the ground in front of them and she motioned for SG-7 and Daniel to form a half-circle around the gate; they needed to protect it at all costs.

"Major Carter, what's your status?" The general's voice sounded tinny and far away.

"Our position's been compromised. We've got the gate, but the colonel isn't back yet." Why hadn't they come over the hill yet?

She saw the tense faces of the other SG team as they waited. What was happening?

"Carter!" Static burst suddenly over her radio and before Sam knew what she was doing she was running toward the hill.

"Sam!" She could hear Daniel shouting behind her.

"Hold the gate! Hold the gate!" Sam yelled over her shoulder.

"So you thought you could go back on your own, despite overwhelming evidence that your position had been compromised." Woolsey's voice was skeptical.

"If there was a chance to save my team I was going to take it." Sam clenched her jaw tightly.

"So you risked the lives of every SG member on that planet, failed in your task, leaving three members of SG-7 dead."

Sam bit her lip before raising clouded eyes to meet his. "Yes."

"Colonel!" Sam crested the hill, weapon at the ready, eyes darting from left to right trying to find her CO. "Sir!"

"Get down!" Someone hit her from the side, knocking her into the sand at the edge of the treeline. She rolled instinctively, but a strong hand pressed into her shoulder, holding her down. "Stay down, Carter, there's two in the trees on the other side."

Sam stared up at her commanding officer, relief washing over her. She didn't know what she'd been thinking, but when he called her name over the radio she had a terrible feeling that something had happened…

"Come on." He pulled her up into a crouch and they both aimed at the opposite treeline. Sam caught a glint of silver in the sunlight and fired once. The Jaffa shouted and fell from his perch. A second later Jack's shoulder bumped hers as he fired and took down the other one. He grabbed his radio. "Teal'c, is that it?"

"I believe so, O'Neill." Both officers jumped at the voice, neither expecting the big man to be so close. He met them at the edge of the trees. "More are coming."

"Let's go." Jack gestured to the other two, taking point. Sam nodded to Teal'c and took the rear. They made their way quickly over the hill, waving to Daniel and the other SG team. They were halfway down the hill before Daniel's shouts reached his ears.

"Sam! Jack, they have Sam!" He was screaming and pointing as SG-7 raised their weapons, but were reluctant to fire for fear of missing and hitting Sam.

Jack turned and felt his heart leap into his throat. Three Jaffa were holding Carter; one had her by the neck and the other two each had an arm. She was struggling, but it was useless. There were too many of them. He brought his P-90 to his shoulder. "Let her go! Let her go, now!"

The Jaffa smiled cruelly and tightened their grip. Teal'c was yelling something, but all Jack could see was Sam. Her eyes were wide and her skin red where the Jaffa's hand was digging into her cheeks.

By the time Jack heard what Teal'c was shouting it was too late.

"I made a mistake." Sam's voice was hard. "I made a bad judgment call and three members of Stargate Command paid for it."

Woolsey's eyes were hard. "They won't be the only ones."

Sam refused to flinch. She was going down, she already knew that. But he was worth it. He was the best officer she had ever known; the bravest man she had ever known. And her personal feelings aside, the SGC needed him. They needed him a lot more than they needed her right now.

"It was my mistake." She folded her hands in her lap. "I accept whatever consequences the IOA deems necessary."

"It's a diversion!" Fredericks yelled. "They're coming up from behind us!" Jack whipped around as bursts of gunfire echoed through the clearing. He was right; a Jaffa battalion had emerged from the trees behind the gate.

Teal'c was running to help SG-7 maintain the gate, but everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Jack saw the mounted staff weapons aiming for his people, he saw them scatter as the first blast hit. Jack lost sight of Daniel as he rolled behind the DHD and Lieutenant Marcus was pressed up against the gate, desperate for cover. Fredericks and Eames were firing at the Jaffa while Teal'c and Rogers flanked the gate, firing at the oncoming enemy.

Jack turned back to his second as she struggled against her captors with all her might. She seemed to break free and for a glorious second Jack thought, 'Okay. Everything's going to be okay. We've got this under control.' But orange light suddenly burst from Carter's mouth as her back arched and one of the Jaffa grabbed her by the hair. Her tortured scream filled the clearing and every other sound seemed to disappear.

In that moment Jack knew what was going to happen. They were going to use that cattle prod on her until she died. It was entertainment to them. In the same second that he realized that, he knew that SG-7, Daniel, and Teal'c needed cover.

But he couldn't do both.

He glanced at the gate and saw one of the mounts take aim at Fredericks and Eames. They were distracted, firing at an oncoming Jaffa, not able to see the ones behind them. Another Jaffa was bearing down on Marcus. Sam's screams were growing weaker, the sound rasping out of her throat.

He had to make a decision. People were going to die no matter what he did. But his choice was to save one or save three. He knew what decision he would be expected to make—save the three. More lives would be lost if he chose Carter.

But he knew. Deep down he knew he had no choice.

Jack turned and ran, squaring his shoulders and ducking his head he slammed into the first Jaffa with the force of a charging bull. He heard the staff blast behind him, but didn't stop to think. He slammed the barrel of his gun into the Jaffa holding the cattle prod and fired two shots at the only one left standing. Carter had fallen to her knees and her breath was coming in liquid gasps. He could see blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

"Jack! Jack! We can't hold the gate! We need to get out of here now!"

"Come on, Carter." He lifted her gingerly, trying to brace her head against his chest as he ran. He swallowed sour bile as he ran past the burnt and mangled bodies of Fredericks, Eames, and Marcus. Daniel and Rogers were already through the gate and Teal'c was single handedly holding off the remaining Jaffa as Jack threw himself and Sam through the gate…

A brief rap on the door startled Sam and she watched nervously as Woolsey went to open it. An airman stood outside the door and handed Woolsey a piece of paper. A tense moment followed as the man read it, then folded it up and placed it in his breast pocket.

"Well, Major Carter, it seems we're done here."

"What?" Sam half-rose from the table.

"You're free to go. Not that this little charade on your part fooled anyone." Woolsey nodded once, then stepped from the room. Sam blinked slowly, trying to figure out what had just happened. Something was wrong. Something had happened to make Woolsey leave her alone. With a sinking feeling, she left the room, each step feeling like she was stepping in quicksand.

"Sir." Sam felt the tension in her voice as she stood across the table from the colonel. He was sitting in the commissary, poking at his dinner. "Can we talk?" He just nodded and stood, following her to her lab. It had been almost twelve hours since their return from the botched mission and they both knew time was running out. "Colonel," Sam began once she closed the door. "I've talked to Daniel and Teal'c."

"Okay." His voice was emotionless.

"Sir, they both say that you had no choice. It was too late for SG-7."

"They lied." Bitterness.

"Colonel." Sam glanced once at the door. "That's what they said."

"Rogers?"

Sam shook her head. "He didn't see anything. I believe him."

Jack took a breath. "I'd do it again." He spoke so quietly, Sam wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly.

"Sir?"

"I'd do it again, Carter." He met her eyes and Sam's heart beat quickened. His gaze was intense, more intense than she'd ever seen it…and what it meant scared her.

"Colonel, you know there's going to be an investigation. Three SG members died on a supposedly routine mission and part of the fighting was recorded through the MALP. I don't think it's enough to prove anything, but it's enough to-,"

"It's enough to put suspicion on me." He finished, waving his hand like it didn't matter. "It's my fault, Carter. But I don't regret it."

"Colonel…"

"No." He stood and took a step towards her. "Carter, listen to me. I can't regret what I did. I made the right choice—the only choice. They say we can't put a value on anyone's life, but you're worth twenty of us, probably more." His voice was low and fierce, his eyes burning into hers. "I take responsibility for what I did because it was the right thing to do. For the SGC's sake and…and for my own."

Sam gaped at him. This was the closest they had ever come to discussing the…thing…between them. But it was for this very reason the regulations existed. Three people were lost because his objectivity had been compromised. But so had hers. It was her fault she had been captured. If she had held position like she was supposed to instead of running off to rescue him…

"The IOA will be sent to investigate, sir." She knew what he was going to do and she couldn't let him. "But people die all the time here. It's a routine investigation. All we have to do is be neutral and explain things in a way that doesn't implicate…us." Sam marveled at the matter of fact quality in her voice. She was talking about lying to her commanding officers. What had happened to the woman who followed the book to a T?

"Carter…" Jack ran a hand over his forehead. "They have audio. Three people died because of what I did. Maybe…maybe it's time I take responsibility for…everything." He gave her a significant look and she felt a chill run up her spine.

She knew what he wanted to do, but she couldn't let him. She had to make sure they heard her side of the story first.

She reached the hall and turned towards the interrogation room next to hers just as Jack stepped through the door. His eyes locked onto hers and Sam felt her heart sink.

"I'm sorry, Carter. I had no choice."

End

A/N: Just a little thing that came to me last night. I know it isn't terrific, but hey. A muse is a muse right? Please R and R!