Sometimes, when you don't know what to do, an outsider sees things way more clearly than you do.
Here's a story about Sam and Jack and a lady who is full of advise.

I really do love the cliche image of the sweet, older lady. ;)

Nothing Stargate is mine. Nothin' at all.

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Wise Men Say…

-Only fools rush in

Sam ran. As fast as she could and for as long as her lungs and legs could bare. She dodged branches and ignored the holes in the muddy ground below her feet, because she knew exactly where she was running, her own trail, off the paths which were laid out trough the park. The wind had picked up and made the dry leaves dance, right before Sam crushed them with her running shoes. Thoughts were tumbling over each other in her mind, pushing and shoving to be the centre of attention. …the next step, Sam…
She felt a sharp stab in her side, but kept running. …what's the next step?…Her hand brushed against a sharp piece of a freshly fallen log and she was certain that it would start bleeding. She absentmindedly looked at it and spotted a small cut on the side of her hand. …we can make it work… It would heal. Just like that. Effortlessly. No need to take action.
…what if we can't, Jack?… Another stab in her side, as if her body was warning her to stop running, physically as well as mentally. But she didn't want to listen. She had to move. Moving meant that she wouldn't have to stand still and face her fears. Nothing could catch her if she only moved. …we'd lose everything we have… She picked up more speed and briefly wondered if she could actually be called a coward after having saved the planet several times. The answer came from one of the more annoying patterns of thought in her head. Yes, yes you can. You're a coward. A big honking…

She never saw the small woman in front of her, she didn't even immediately feel the body to body contact. Sam simply found herself stretched out on the grassy soil, with her face aimed at the blue sky above her. Her other hand hurt now. She moved her fingers and after getting the confirmation that everything still worked, she saw a face looking down at her.

"Oh dear, are you alright?''

The older woman had worry written all over her face and gently helped Sam to stand up.

''Yes, thank you. Are you OK, ma'am?''

Sam still wasn't sure what had just happened, but now that she stood in front of the woman she couldn't help but notice that she topped her in height quite a bit. On top of that, the woman looked fragile.

''I'm fine dear, really. This old body can still take a lot, you know…''

She smiled at Sam and looked at her hands.

''Oh, but you're bleeding honey. Doesn't that hurt?''

Sam followed the other woman's stare and saw that the cut she got while running had started to bleed profoundly and now that the adrenaline rush was decreasing, it started to sting as well. The woman didn't wait for Sam to answer and pulled her towards a bench.

''Sit down, sit down…''

Sam looked around and took in her surroundings. There were people strolling and children playing soccer on a field nearby. Without realising it, she had returned to the point in the park from which she had started her frantic run earlier. The woman was rummaging in her bag and pulled out a pack of tissues and a pocket size bottle of liquor. She grinned when she noticed Sam was looking at it.

''Don't worry, sweetheart. I never combine drinking and cleaning open wounds…''

Sam smiled back, but couldn't come up with a clever response yet. She was still a bit dazed from the incident, but felt her thoughts clear up nonetheless. The blood had stained her top and Sam thought that it was strange that after the amount of the liquid she had seen in her life, she still was surprised by the bright red colour it could have. On the light grey of her shirt, it jumped out at her. The woman soaked some tissues in alcohol and softly started to wipe away the blood from the cracked skin on her hand. Sam gritted her teeth and tried to come up with the reason why this woman seemed so familiar to her…

''My late husband used to get cut all the time. He was a gardener. One time, he even managed to saw off his thumb. Well, not really saw it off, but the doctors had to cut it off in the hospital…''

Sam must have pulled a face that could be read as 'shocked', because the woman patted her arm and nodded.

''Don't worry, hon., I'm pretty sure you get to keep yours.''

Sam laughed and at the same time remembered that this was the sweet old lady who was sitting on this very same bench every morning when Sam started her run.

''Yeah, so am I.''

They sat in silence when the woman finished cleaning Sam's cut and put a bandage on it. The tip of her tongue stuck out when she tore off the paper ends.

''All done. My children used to ask me to draw smiley faces on them when they were little, but I reckon you're a bit too old for that huh?''

Sam let out a small laugh and felt better than she did before.

''Oh, I sure could use a smiley face right now…''

The woman looked at her and almost invisibly nodded her head. She sat back on the bench with a straight back and her hands on her lap.

''Isn't life treating you right?''

She looked sideways at Sam, with genuine interest and concern apparent in her eyes. Sam sighed and sat back as well, yet less elegantly.

''On the contrary, I think life is a little too good to be true.''

She never felt comfortable talking to strangers about anything that concerned her personal life, but this lady had something that made Sam spill. She told her everything she could tell her. About being in a line of work that did not allow her to fall in love with a co-worker, about the time they had spent ignoring their feelings, her engagement to a caring man she could easily get, but who wasn't the right one for her and she told her about her father's death.

''…He was there for me, this man, the now former ...boss? Jack. He knew exactly what to do and say to keep me from falling into a pattern of continuous work and outdoing myself. He pulled me out of a spiral of misery and sadness. He…''

Sam fell silent as she remembered the time she had spent with Jack the last couple of weeks. They had gone fishing, they had gone out to drive on her bike or in his car simply to get away. He told her he was transferring, she had admitted that she would miss him more than she would miss any other random colleague and friend. They had sincere talks about the past, the present and at some time, they had started to discuss a possible future. One they could maybe, possibly, actually share. And that's were Sam got scared senseless. She had that kind of talk before. With Jonas. With Pete. None of them had been as close a friend as Jack had been. Neither of them had taken such a firm place in her heart as he had taken. With her former fiances she had never worried about what it would be like to lose them, because she hadn't been as terrified to not have them in her life as she was with Jack. Then, last night, he had come out and said it.

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''I think it's time to take the next step, Sam.''

Sam looked up from her position near the barbeque and glanced over her shoulder to check were Teal'c and Daniel were.

''What's the next step?''

He looked her in her eyes while he took her hands in his and Sam couldn't help but think that they fit together perfectly.

''Start a relationship, see how it goes, even though I'm sure that we can make it work…''

Sam swallowed and fear crept up on her.

''What if we can't Jack? What if we suck at it? We'd… we'd lose everything we have''

''Don't let fear stand in the way, Sam. Just don't. We are that good. I would rather try and lose the friendly banter, than kick myself on a daily base for not taking the opportunity…''

''Jack…''

She wanted to tell him it wasn't right. Yell at him about how he deserved someone better. Someone who would do the right thing, who could get lost in the romance of a relationship without preparing to leave one day… But the words didn't come. She simply decided against talking and she would take the easy way out. The one the two of them had made into a form of art: sucking it up and moving on. She shook her head and closed her eyes.

Jack leaned over and kissed her on her forehead. Without saying anything else, he walked into the house and didn't talk about it again. He knew she needed time, and gave it to her.

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''What are you afraid of, honey?''

The voice of the elderly lady pulled Sam back into the moment and she shook her head.

''I don't know. Not really…''

The woman held a paper bag with biscuits in front of her and because Sam felt hungry, she gracefully accepted one.

''Oh, I think you're fully aware of it, but let me take a guess based on experience?''

Sam munched on her cookie and nodded.

''You're scared to take the plunge. To get hurt. You believe that the one thing you want the most will turn out to be an illusion…''

She smiled as Sam looked down at the blood-stained toes of her shoes.

''I don't know what I'm supposed to do.''

Sam felt a hand on her shoulder.

''You just told me that you have had years to figure it out. It's not like you had to rush… Go talk to him. Tell him how you feel. Kiss him senseless if you feel like it and go for it!''

Sam let out a small giggle and felt her confidence grow. She could do this. It was easy. He was a safe bet… She grinned at the lady.

''I never got your name…''

''It's Ella.''

Sam shook the hand the woman gave her and suddenly realised that she had told her all about what was on her mind without even having mentioned her own name.

''I'm Sam. It was nice to finally talk to you.''

The woman pointed to the other people in the park.

''You see them every week. Some of them, like you, have a routine. They jog, walk the dog or drive by with the kids when they're on their way to the gym… Everyone has a story, a destination. To them, I'm just someone they pass by, just like they are to me. You sometimes forget that they all have lives outside of the two or three seconds in which they become part of your world… It was nice to finally talk to you too, Sam. Now there's a name to go with the face. Before, you were just the 'running woman with the silver fox husband'.''

Sam's head shot up and she was sure that the look on her face was priceless.

''What? You were always bantering like a married couple…''

Sam smiled as she got up from the bench and she couldn't wipe the smug look off her face when she said thanks to Ella for taking care of the cut on her hand. She needed to talk to Jack. Her 'husband'. The silver fox.

When she arrived at Jack's house, her thoughts had started to tumble over each other again. She didn't know what to say, where to look and what to do with her hands. She felt torn between being confident and uncertain. She could still turn around and…

Jack opened the door and raised his eyebrows. He opened his mouth to say something, but Sam had already started to blurt out the first thought that entered her mind.

''We can make this work, Jack.''

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Will there be more? Yes. Because I love writing these characters. :)
To those who have read my story ''Gone Fishing...'', yes, this old lady might somewhat remind you of Ethel.
She's not the same, though. :P

Thanks for taking the time to read!