Story Notes:

This is a story I wrote a long time ago, under the name Nefertiti. Please R/R (constructive criticism is always welcome!). I'm still not sure about the ending, so I may rewrite it. Also, I do not currently have a beta, so I accept responsibility for all mistakes.

Author's Notes:

***NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. THIS IS FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY, NO MONEY IS BEING RECEIVED FOR THIS STORY. I ONLY ENJOY BRINGING SAM AND JACK OUT TO PLAY, BUT I WILL GIVE THEM BACK.***

CHAPTER 1

She lay there, in the infirmary again, as he sat by watching her, again. This occurrence was happening way too often. He couldn't ever be sure she was okay until he saw for himself.

He saw her eyes start to flutter, and caught his attention. 'C'mon, Sam, show me those beautiful eyes Let me know you're alright, that you didn't leave me.'

"Hey," Colonel O'Neill let him know he was with her…always.

"Jack?" she whispered.

He raised his eyebrows at the sound of his name on her lips, the first word she uttered as she awoke.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, sir." She realized that she had slipped and said his name, forgetting for a split second that she wasn't living in her mind anymore. The concussion she suffered as a fall was no longer creating conversations she couldn't imagine being a reality.

'And she's back to sir,' mused the colonel to himself, 'If only she understood that I wasn't chastising her for using my name, but fascinated by it.'

"Yes, well, a massive concussion will tend to disorient one." Disappointed that he had to make excuses for her, he listened to the machines monitoring her beeping loudly behind her.

"How long was I out there?"

"Well, it's all relative, Carter, you know, that whole time/space continuum thing…"

"Sir?" She pushed for the answer.

"Four days."

'What? There's no way!' Her eyes widened, as reality set in.

"I could have sworn it was weeks."

"Uh, Teal'c and Daniel say hi, uh, they're planning a little bit of a shindig for when you're up and around. There's talk of cake," He looked down into her beautiful blue eyes and smiled.

"A cake?"

"My idea!" There was pride in his voice as he smiled.

"Can't wait," her fatigue permeated her own voice.

"Need anything?" All he needed was for her to say his name again, tired and full of sleep just as she had before. 'That was extremely sexy' "Magazine? Yo-Yo?"

'You,' she thought to herself, but instead, she shook her head, "I'm fine."

"Yes, you are," he stated, as the unsaid words hung in the air between them.

"Thank you, sir."

"For what?"

She remembered the dream she had had of kissing him, climbing on his lap, his head between her hands, and the soft caress of his fingers as they came up to touch the side of her face. She could have sworn it was real. She knew it was real, she remembered the heat of his skin, the slight stubble on his cheeks, the taste of his delicious tongue. However, he didn't remember a thing about it, because it never really happened.

"Nothing."

"Think nothing of it," in his purely charming way, "I've got plenty of that." He looked down at her classic features, the planes of her face. He hated that once again, she was lying on a hospital bed, but wondered how she always looked so beautiful, her hair a golden halo around her face.

Sam fought the urge to call out to him as he turned and walked out of the infirmary. She knew she couldn't, no matter how much she wished she could. She wanted to tell him so much, about the conversations she had had in her head as she worked alone to get out of the gas cloud, about the small girl she hallucinated while on Prometheus, but most of all, she wanted to tell him about the kiss they had never shared.

She smiled to herself and closed her eyes, remembering the feel again of his hand as it barely caressed the side of her face. It was with this thought that she allowed herself to drift off into slumber.

TBC

A/N: Dialogue from Stargate SG-1, Season 7, Episode 13 Grace, written by Brad Wright, Jonathan Glassner, and Damian Kindler. Wish I could take credit for writing it, but I can't! Thanks for the great dialogue, and thanks to RDA and AT for adding so much emotional undercurrent in just a few lines of dialogue!