Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: My imagination runs away without me… again. Am I the only one who was really pissed off about the way that episode ended? I mean, come on! This is how it SHOULD have gone, after they got Daniel back, heard his story, etc, but before the fishing. If they ever do have "the" conversation, like Sam tried to start before his girlfriend walked out, they had better do a damned good job at the dialogue… Hey, they should find a shipper/fanfic writer to write the scene!

Siler, You Owe Me...

Sam Carter was walking down the halls of the SGC. It was pointless, really, she was just doing laps, if you will, as a way to provide her brain time to process all that Daniel had said. So, Anubis was halfway ascended. And the only reason he was able to do everything he was doing was because the other higher beings were trying to punish Oma. She snorted, scaring a timid passing airman who had heard stories about what this woman could do when she was mad.

"Letting a galaxy be destroyed because they want to punish one person seems a little extreme."

"It sure is, Carter, but those 'higher beings' don't seem to have a well developed moral code." Sam stopped, turning to see O'Neill behind her. He nodded in acknowledgement. "Carter. Mind if I walk in circles with you?"

"Go right ahead, Sir." They fell into step next to each other. Sam's thoughts had shifted from Oma and the ascended people to the man walking beside her. Her dad had told her not to let rules get in her way. She'd told him she was happy, had everything she wanted, but had she been lying? 'I must have,' she thought. 'I lied to my dad. I said I had everything I wanted, but I had Pete, not General O'Neill.' She'd actually gone to tell him that she loved him when Kerry had walked out of the house. That had been really embarrassing, because now Kerry knew, even if Jack didn't. Now all she had to do was pretend that it hadn't been "I love you" that she'd been about to say.

Jack was thinking about the conversation he'd had with Kerry. She'd broken up with him because of Sam. That was the one issue she couldn't live with, so she'd dumped him. Oh, she'd done it nicely and with a promise of a good working relationship, but she'd dumped him. She had simply said that she couldn't live with his being in love with Sam and that he was an idiot for not doing anything about it. She was right, now that he thought about it. He'd been using Kerry to try to get over Sam, and then she'd shown up and said she was having second thoughts about marrying Pete… and she'd been about to tell him why she'd come to him about it when Kerry had walked out. At the time, he'd cursed her for her horrible timing. It was a good thing, though, because if Sam had said what he thought she was going to, he would have had a serious problem. This way, he wasn't forced to choose between the two women.

Sam was starting to get uncomfortable with the silence. "Sir, I thought I should inform you that I'm not marrying Pete."

Jack stopped, bringing her to a halt as well. "Why not?"

"It was a mistake, Sir. I like Pete, I just…" Sam licked her lips. Maybe this wasn't the best topic to have brought up.

"Carter, before Ms. Johnson interrupted, you were about to tell me why you'd come to me with your problem. Care to finish that sentence?" 'Thin ice, Jack. You're on thin ice…' He knew it, but he asked anyway. He needed to know.

"Ah, well…" Sam shifted from foot to foot. Neither of the two of them noticed that they were attracting a crowd… at a safe distance, of course. These two had been the talk of the base for years, and everyone wanted to see how this would turn out, but nobody wanted to be too close if the two officers noticed them.

"Come on, Carter, spit it out." Jack was trying to sound good natured and jovial, but his face gave away the importance he placed on her answer.

"Sir, it wouldn't be appropriate…"

He knew exactly what she meant. "Kerry broke up with me. Say it, Colonel."

Her voice was nearly a whisper. "I couldn't marry Pete because… I'm not in love with him. I'm in love with you."

The watchers held their collective breaths. Sam held hers, too.

"Wow." Jack raised one hand to scratch the back of his neck. "That wasn't exactly what I'd expected. Oh well." He pulled Sam to him and kissed her. Hard. In front of about a third of the SGC personnel. When they both needed air, they split apart to the shocked total silence that had fallen over the hallway.

Jack, oblivious to everything but Sam, pulled her close in a tight hug. "Damn, I should have done that years ago."

"Well, you can make up for it now."

"Want to go fishing, Carter?"

"Sure, Sir."

Then, somebody yelled. "Hey, Siler! You owe me fifty bucks!"

A/N: Please review. You'll make my day.