Big Girls Don't Cry by ShipperWriter
Summary: One way that Sam found out about her transfer to Atlantis. Slight song!fic. "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie.
Enjoy! And R&Ring will make me post more old S/J fics!
"Don't you think that I know that?"
Jack O'Neill stopped short as he came around the corner that led into Samantha Carter's lab at the SGC. He silently hoped that she wasn't talking to her plants again; he thought that she had dropped that habit years ago. He listened for further sounds, not hearing a reply, and then decided to walk in as though he'd heard nothing.
"Sam, that's not what I meant," another voice said, trying to reason with her. Jack raised an eyebrow. This was odd. Daniel Jackson was usually the only person on the same wavelength as Carter. As he had no idea what they were discussing, and this was getting interesting, Jack decided to stay outside, leaning against the cold gray wall in the corridor, listening for more tidbits about the conversation he'd stumbled upon.
"Then what did you mean, Daniel? Yes, I know that every alternate universe that we've come upon, I'm not in the Air Force and I'm with him. Do you . . ." she trailed off and Jack listened, heartbreakingly, as she stifled a sob. "How do you think that makes me feel?" she asked, quietly and slowly.
He heard a chair squeak, and hoped it was somebody sitting down. He rounded the corridor to approach her lab from another angle where they couldn't see him, but he could see what was happening. The door was open; he stepped next to it as he saw Sam spin and grab a tissue. "Daniel, I appreciate you asking me about this. It had been bothering me for some reason and I couldn't talk about it, but it's out now. I'm fine."
Daniel looked down at the floor for a moment, then raised his brow and lowered it. "Okay. Well, I've got a tablet or something that needs to be translated. After the Ori came down, I found a lot of scant references to the-" He stopped short when he saw that Sam's attention had already been refocused on her computer. He patted her shoulder lightly. "If you need me, you know where I am, Sam." He turned and left, thankfully, through the other set of doors.
Jack stayed where he was. It had been years since they'd admitted their feelings. Personally, his hadn't faded, but after all of the possible instances where she could have mentioned it, she never did. He wondered why.
Inside, Sam started moving around, popping a CD into the laptop that she was working on. He wondered if it was within regulations to use Air Force equipment in that fashion, but when the song started, he didn't care. He was slightly embarrassed at himself that he knew this song, but he listened to it, nonetheless.
"The smell of your skin lingers on me now . . . You're probably on your flight back to your home town . . ."
Yeah, that sounded about right. Right now, his home town was Washington, DC. But it wasn't home. Really, it was his cabin in Minnesota or here in Colorado Springs or wherever Sam was, and then he berated himself, thinking that was too romantic and mushy to come out of his delusional brain.
"I need some shelter of my own protection, baby, to be with myself and center, clarity, peace, serenity."
Then Carter started singing.
"I hope you know, I hope you know, that this has nothing to do with you. It's personal, myself and I, we've got some straightening out to do . . ."
It was starting to hurt Jack's ears, but he forced himself to listen. Cassie Fraiser, he decided, was the influence behind the music.
"It's time to be a big girl now, and big girls don't cry. Don't cry, don't cry." Sam listened for another second and then turned off the music. Jack watched, rather wearily as she braced her hands on the edge of the table.
And Samantha Carter, the big girl, started crying.
Jack felt his heart being ripped apart as she continue sobbing on the counter. His first thought was to turn and walk away. But then he stopped. He was responsible for this. It was on him to fix it.
He walked in her lab, quietly stepping behind her. His hand gently lay on her shoulder and she immediately could sense who the hand belonged to. She turned around, still sobbing, and without looking at him for reassurance she wrapped herself around him and kept crying.
"I'm sorry, baby, God, I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair.
She sniffled and sighed, relaxing just a little. "It's not you. It's just . . . People are supposed to be happy in their relationships, not hide them from their closest friends. I mean, I've been married to you for almost two years and no one knows!"
"Thor knew."
"Yeah, but now he's dead, so that kinda cancels it out. Look, Jack," she said, leaning back to see his face, "I just want to be able to tell the people closest to us. Daniel, Teal'c, Cassie. I just want them to know how happy I really am."
Jack paused, longer than usual. Sam knew he was thinking. "Well," he drawled. "I might have the answer to your prayer, then, Samantha Carter."
"How's that?"
"The IOA has finished going over their list of candidates for command of Atlantis. And right know, they feel that it might be best to transfer someone with plenty of experience here at the SGC, someone who's military but can still connect with the scientists."
Sam thought for one second and then said, "Jack O'Neill!"
"And it's under the oversight of the IOA, not the Air Force, so technically there is no insubordination or fraternization rules that would apply." Jack let go of Sam, now smiling, and sat down on a stool. "That's the most I've said all day!"
Sam walked next to him, pinning him between the desk and her. "I love you, Jack."
Jack smirked. "Ditto."