2000
Summary: What made Sam and Jack so bitter toward each other during 2010? It all happened just before the treaty, back in the year 2000. (SJ)
Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate.
"You're not ready to go," Sam said, obviously as Jack opened his front door, dressed in a shirt and a pair of jeans.
"It would seem not," he answered lazily, not inviting her in. "Whatcha doin' here, Carter?" he asked.
"You weren't answering your cell," Sam said. "I thought you might need a lift to the…"
"I'm not going," Jack interrupted.
"You have to go, sir," said Sam. "This could be the most important day in Earth's history!"
She was, of course, talking about the formal signing of the treaty between Earth and the Aschen. It had only been a few short weeks since their introduction to the advanced people, but both races agreed that a swift treaty was beneficial.
"Well?" Sam asked.
"You know I don't trust them, Carter," Jack said, moving out of the way so that she could come inside.
"I still don't understand that, by the way," she said, as she sat down on his couch.
Jack sat opposite her. "Come on, Carter – an advanced alien race that want to give us everything we ever wanted, out of the goodness of their hearts?"
"We're giving them gate-addresses, sir," Sam reminded him.
"Whoop-di-doo," Jack chided. "You're telling me you don't think it's just a little too good to be true?"
Sam shook her head. "No. And you didn't feel that way last time someone wanted to give us everything we wanted."
Jack knew that she was referring to the Eurondans.
"No, I didn't," he said, seeing that same look of disapproval he had seen in her eyes when he had allowed Alar to die after trying to follow them through the Stargate. "And look how that happy story turned out."
"I just don't understand, sir," Sam pressed. "The Aschen could be the very allies we have been looking for for the past four years. Why can't you see that?"
"I don't trust them," he said.
"Is that just a gutfeeling, sir?" Sam berated.
"Yes, Carter, it is," said Jack, getting angrier with every word.
"Well with all due respect, I don't share it, sir," she said.
"That's obvious," Jack said under his breath.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked.
"It means that you haven't thought this through. You or Daniel or Hammond. What ever happened to critical thinking and all that crap that Daniel spurts out?"
"What happened? We took a leap of faith. You know faith, sir? And who knows – it may end up saving the world. And as for the crap that Daniel spurts out…"
"Look Carter," Jack interrupted, "I'm not trying to start a war here. You knew exactly how I felt about this alliance when you drove all the way here to pick me up. So what are you really doing here?"
Sam scoffed. "Fine. I wanted to convince you. I wanted to show you that we're making the right decision. I don't want us to do this without you."
"Why not?" Jack asked. "What does it matter?"
"Because I trust your judgment, sir," Sam said. "I want you to be ok with this."
"Well I'm not," he snapped.
Sam had nothing to retort. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish before sighing in frustration.
"I don't get it," she said. "What are you afraid of?" she asked. "That they'll make you obsolete?"
Jack raised an eyebrow at her. "Me? The man who's been bucking for retirement for the last four years?"
"Then what?" Sam asked. "Don't you get it, sir? This could be our chance to end it all. To stop the Goa'uld. What could be the harm in that?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "And if that means we're out of a job – so what? There are so many other things we can do. And I don't just mean everyone in general," she said, meeting his eyes for a brief moment. "We wouldn't have to save the world anymore. We could just live."
"And that would make you happy?" Jack asked, realizing that Sam wasn't talking about the rest of the world anymore.
"Yes," she answered. She looked close to tears now.
"I can't do it," he said, softly. "Don't you think I would if I could?"
"Would you?" she asked.
"I'm not made of stone, Sam," Jack answered. "But I won't surrender to a bunch of aliens for us."
Sam stared him cold and hard in the face. "Is that what you think I'm doing?"
Jack stayed silent for a moment. "Yes," he said, apologetically.
"Right," she said. "Then you don't know me at all."
She got up to leave.
"Carter!" he called after her.
"What?" she answered, whirling around at him. "What do you want me to do? Follow you blindly?"
"Follow me blindly?" he asked. "As opposed to following people you don't even know? Just because they're smarter and more powerful than you? You're like a drunken teenager, Carter. You're besotted with the idea that the Aschen can magically make all your problems go away. But then what? What are you going to do with the house, the husband, the two point five kids and the Aschen 'chaperone'? What are they going to ask for in return? You're making a decision based on a ridiculous desire for a quick fix. Well, it's not going to happen. The Goa'uld aren't going to magically disappear. No matter what you dear ambassador is promising."
"Don't you bring him into this!" Sam yelled.
"Is he part of your quick fix too? The mail-order husband for when you don't get your way? Come on, Carter. That's why you're really here. You said so yourself. But I'm not falling for it. You're wrong! The Aschen aren't going to be Earth's mommies and daddies and we aren't going to live happily ever after. Don't you get it? They're making you believe that you've won! But you haven't, Carter. You've lost."
Sam looked as though she was going to cry. The straw seemed to have broken the camel's back.
"Well you've lost too, Jack," she said, leaving his house for the last time. "You've lost me."
She never returned until it was too late.
Almost.